Actually we found two sweet Cavaliers yesterday and I do know what to do in this situation but do you? The two cavaliers were both Blenheim like Davinia and Indiana their names were Chauncey and Channel and yes they were reunited with their very happy family last night. I wasn’t actually the person who found them but I didn’t want them sent to animal control or to wind up in the street so i agreed to take care of them.
So what do you do if you find a lost dog? How do you go about finding its owners?
1. First if you think you know who they belong to go and knock on the door. The worst that could happen is their dogs are safe at home and you introduced yourself to someone new who now knows to come to you if their dog is lost.
2. Alert your local police that you have the dogs they might have already been reported missing and it is a great local resource for a family to call if their dog goes missing. Tell them you will try to find the owner on your own give them a description of the dogs and your contact number in case someone goes to them looking for the dogs. Here in Miami I will not turn them over to local police because they will only hold the dogs for an hour before calling animal control which is a kill shelter.
3. Go to any other houses that the dog could be from. I went to all the houses that I know have Cavaliers and asked if theirs was missing even if I knew they only had one or didn’t think these looked like their dogs. I figure the dog is out of the usual situation you see them in so might not appear 100% familiar. While you know they only own one they probably have other doggy friends of the same breed and could have gotten loose together by accident so check even if you know its not theirs. Again the worst that can happen is the dog meets you at the door and you alert another neighbor who will be out walking their dog that you have a visitor or two in case someone is looking for them.
4. If you can’t see a name / number / tag / or rabies license find a local veterinarian that is open or like in my situation last night they were all closed and I had to take the dogs to an emergency clinic. I left the dogs in the car while I went in to explain the situation in case there was an active emergency. I didn’t want to upset anyone and was willing to wait until they could take care of me. After explaining the situation they told me to bring the dogs into the hospital and scanned them. No chips were found. I left my contact number along with a description of the dogs with them in case anyone called in. Local vets often forward their calls to your local emergency clinic so this is a great way to reunite a lost do with their owner. The owner can call their vet and alert them the dog is missing.
5. If you are still unable to locate the owner take the dogs home give them some water (and food if it is mealtime) and let them get comfortable. If they allow you to touch them take some time now to really inspect the dog. Check the collar again in the light move away any fur that might be blocking your view to see if there in a number on their collars. This was how I found their names and telephone number. I completely missed it the first time around. I was able to call the owners to reunite them with their missing dogs.
6. I found a dog with no tag, no microchip, no name on the collar and no one seems to be claiming the dog. Now what do I do? Call Animal Control and tell them you found the dogs but will watch them until the owner is found. Call local all of your local vets and let them know. Call any other emergency clinics to let them know.
7. Go to Craigslist.org and list the dogs include:
- the breed and coloring (DO NOT Upload Photos of the dog you found. Let the owner send you photos)
- Your location (instead of saying something overly broad like Miami narrow it down as much as possible use the name of your village or your zip do you live in the north part of your village or the south)
- How they can get in touch with you.
- Say you are happy to hold onto the dog until the owner comes forward and that you can care for the dog.
- Ask people to cross post to facebook or twitter to help find the owner
8. Post on Facebook to your personal profile about the lost dogs. Something like FOUND DOG (name of your town) and then details to grab people’s attention to take notice. Ask everyone in the area to cross post.
9. Put leashes on the dogs and take them for a walk in the neighborhood along with your own dogs if at all possible so people really notice the situation and stop to ask you how you acquired the new dogs. The more people that know you have them the sooner their owner will turn up.
Do you have any other suggestions on what to do with a found dog in order to help reunite it with their family? Feel free to share here.
My friend and I found a dog once, and we made flyers with his picture and our phone number on it, and posted them around the neighborhood he was found.
Soon enough one of his neighbors called and said she thought he lived down the street from her, but would check with the owners to see if he was missing. He was, they called and came to get him.
Before we got the flyers up, we called AC and they said it was the LAW that if a dog is found, it must be turned into them. They said we could not hold onto him and they offered to come get him from us. We couldn't do that to him (he was an older dog) and we just got off the phone quickly.
I will look into the various ways for doing the same in the UK so I am prepared.
Excellent post !
Our local papers have free lost and found ads. If I don't find their home that day I always call and put an ad in.
Our local shelter doesn't require surrender of the pet so I always call their first because many people will call the shelter to see if someone turned in their pet (not everyone is prepared to take care of a lost pet).
Glad you were able to find their owners. The dogs I have found were always reunited with their owners. Unfortunately, no one ever stepped forward for the rabbit or cat so they made their forever home here.
This is a really useful and informative post – thank goodness you found the owners!
Yeah, Animal Control would be my LAST call. Lots of AC's require immediate surrender of the pet. No way.
Some great suggestions, Felissa. Your story certainly emphasizes the need to have some form of identification for your dog, like a tag with your telephone number and address on the collar. In my opinion, having a microchip implanted is also a great idea, just in case the collar breaks or someone removes it.
If you do find a lost dog, in addition to the tips listed in the article, you might also check for a poster on any local community bulletin boards. Also, check your local newspaper classified ads for lost dog ads.
The only thing I would add is to also call local boarders/doggie daycares/pet sitting services, etc. and ask if they've had any dogs escape. Years ago I had a friend whose dog got out of the backyard fence at a doggy daycare (thankfully she was found a short time later and reunited with her owner).
Great post, thank you!
We saved a dog in an accident, knew who the owner was, but he refused to take him back! I don't think we have a law to protect dogs from being dumped. His owner was trying to dump him! We can't send him to PAWS or SPCA. He'll be put to sleep. We are now trying to find him a home but it will not be easy as he has been crippled in the accident. We are so angry with his owner but what can we do?
Over here in most states now breeders must microchip puppies before selling them or the new owner is required to microchip their dog. In our state you can get your puppy microchipped at his first vet check-up or by the local council. Then if a dog is lost or found the first point of call is the nearest vet who can access the register and find the owner.
Wow, that's really complex. In Australia, it is illegal for us to keep a dog we find on the street – it must go and spend time in the shelter. The shelter is the first place that people with lost animals look. People will NOT find their lost animal if someone is harboring it and putting up small signs around the place – especially if the dog travelled a considerable distance from your residence.
We also have compulsory microchipping in some states, which does help animal-owner reuniting rate.
Personally, I would be very unmotivated to help stray dogs on the street if it then became my responsibility to find their owner. I like our system a lot more!
However, this is a great post as it seems a very complex matter, so this is a fantastic resource for those living in areas where it's not illegal to keep stray animals.