Too often, loved pets go missing. It could be for a number of reasons; faulty tethers or harnesses, a defective leash, an unlatched door, or a brave escape attempt. Regardless of the reason, there are several ways to reunite you and your pet.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”
One night, I spent several hours walking through the trees in our neighborhood finding an in-laws escaped dog. It was the middle of winter, snow on the ground, and it would have been easy to quit. How could this have been prevented? Spending the extra five seconds checking the leash to make sure it was sound. The good news is that everyone was reunited that day, but it could have saved eight people a lot of effort to check the integrity of the equipment.
If you haven’t yet, have your pet microchipped at a vet. If they stray farther than you can track them, or if they are gone for an extended time and found by someone else, most vets and an increasing number of shelters have the capability to read microchips. Other services include PetHub that offer products like their Signal tag which has a unique number, a QR code, and an NFC chip that most smartphones can read and will match up with registration in the PetHub database. its like a microchip without the microchip. They can even notify hundreds of agencies across the country when a pet is reported as lost.
Should proactive measures fail, there are some reactive measures you can take. The most popular is a Lost Dog poster that you see posted to utility poles and mail drop boxes on the sidewalk. Making these posters requires a computer with publishing software, and some skill in graphic layout; not all of which everyone has.
Browsing the Internet today, I found a PetFBI.org free website that will create a poster for you. All you need to do is enter some details including name, description, last known area and date; upload a picture from your digital camera or smartphone, and it will format and layout the information in a bold, easy to read page. Print out as many as you need, get some tape, and you can quickly put the message out about your lost pet.
Time is of the essence! and dogs can move quickly! so it is vitally important to get the information out quickly!
With PetFBI you can report a found animal to help get them back home.
Dexter's Dog Days 