Toby, a shy dog,  bolts from the sound of fireworks and panic ensues. EVERYBODY wants to help – a good thing.  Or is it? One of the first hurdles that the owner of a shy, lost dog must do is to calm down and gain control of the situation. He or she must also be prepared to educate all of the well-meaning people who want to help, but in their eagerness may do exactly the wrong things. Their actions may  prolong the search and/or send Toby right into the path of disaster.

We have written a handout called Five Things To Do If You Lose Your Dog that will be helpful. The very first thing that you should do is put Toby’s bed, some food and water and an article of the owner’s clothing (a dirty sock or T-shirt) at the spot where Toby was last seen.  Putting out Toby’s favorite toy is also a good idea. Lost dogs return by their sense of smell which is hundreds of times better than humans.

Even though it may look like Toby took off like a rocket, dogs lost from stressful situations or unfamiliar locations often do not go very far. They bolt, and then hide. They may remain in hiding for several days or they may attempt to return to the location they went missing from as soon as it is quiet.  Make sure that  the location is a quiet, inviting place for them to return to. Don’t allow people to congregate there because slamming doors, unfamiliar voices and strange smells will not entice the shy lost dog to come back.

Every time a well-meaning person tries to call, whistle or approach Toby, they will drive him further away. Toby may stop, turn back and look, and then trot off again. He will soon be even further away, lost and confused.

A  shy,  lost dog is like a small child lost in a department store that is scared and takes refuge under a rack of clothing, despite their mother or store employees walking right by. Similarly,   a lost dog will hunker down and hide, waiting for it to get quiet before creeping back out and returning home or seeking food and water. Unless a dog is very old, very young or injured, it is usually not wise to physically look for them. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack and the lost dog will abandon his hiding spot and bolt again, long before the searchers come across him. The owners must completely shift their thought process from “searching” for Toby to “luring” him back to where he was lost from.

Unfortunately, friends and family will want to “search” for the dog. Exactly the wrong thing to do. This additional pressure on the dog will send him further and further afield. The greatest risk by far to a shy lost dog is that he will be pursued by well-meaning people into traffic and be struck by a car. If you live in a rural area, don’t allow friends or family to look for your dog on ATV’s or horseback. This again, will only serve to drive him out of the area.

Shy lost dogs that are allowed to settle and regroup without the pressure of being pursued will make wise choices. They will settle into a predictable pattern of behavior, avoid busy roadways, and can survive indefinitely. They may very possibly return on their own.

Shy lost dogs that are continually pressured by overzealous searchers will make poor choices. They may bolt into traffic, or into the path of a train, or fall through thin ice in the spring. These are the three leading causes of death of our recovered, but deceased lost dogs.

So take a deep breath, put that food, water, bed and familiar scented article out and we’ll continue with the next steps,  in the third installment of the series.  Part 3

Our tips, ideas and articles are based on information gathered from over thousands of  successful lost dog recoveries. Any advice or suggestions made by Lost Dogs of Wisconsin/Lost Dogs Illinois is not paid-for professional advice and should be taken at owner’s discretion.

Toby bolted from the sound of fireworks. But you have it all under control. You haven’t allowed your friends and family to “search” for Toby. There will be lots of ways they can help soon. Instead, you have stayed calm and placed Toby’s bed, food, water and familiar scented articles out for him. If he is not pursued, there is a very high likelihood that he might return on his own.

BUT, you don’t want to count on that, so you need to be preparing the next steps: Steps 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Five Things to Do If You Have Lost Your Dog. This is where your family and friends can help: printing flyers, making signs and contacting all of the local authorities to let them know that Toby is missing. Remember to put one sign at the spot he went missing from. Organize one group of people to make phone calls and place internet ads, and another to make signs. Another group will be needed to deliver flyers door to door in the area where he went missing.

Remember, that you need to have ONE point person, preferably the owner to handle all of the incoming phone calls and sightings. Here is a great article on the importance of changing your voicemail message to let everyone know that you are missing your dog.

Now to the subject of rewards. Although you may see many websites and articles that recommend offering a reward for your dog, we highly discourage it with a shy dog or one that has any of the 5 risk factors that will predispose him to being elusive. The reason is pretty simple. People seeking the reward will assume they have to catch Toby to claim the reward. They will approach or pursue Toby driving him even further out of the area. The further you spread the word about a reward, the further he will go. Pretty soon, he will be so far out of your flyering area, that there is a good chance the owner will give up hope out of frustration and despair. Remember, your goal is to LURE Toby back – and that means it has to be easy for him to come back, with no pressure or scary people trying to grab him.

Leave the reward off the flyer, folks! When Toby is safely back home, you may want to reward somebody that has helped you, but don’t risk your dog’s life by offering a reward for a shy or frightened dog.  Part 4

Our tips, ideas and articles are based on information gathered from over thousands of lost dog recoveries. Any advice or suggestions made by Lost Dogs of Wisconsin/Lost Dogs Illinois is not paid-for professional advice and should be taken at owner’s discretion.

Toby has now been missing for three days. The owners are still hopeful that he may return on his own and are very wise to keep the bed, food and familiar scented articles at the point he went missing from.

But they also realize that they can’t control what happens to him while he is lost and he may have been seen and pursued by strangers. But where to start? Where does a shy lost dog want to hang out?

In our experience, lost dogs do not want to live deep in the woods. They prefer to lurk on the edge of civilization, near food sources. In hot weather, they will need a reliable source of water. (In winter, they will eat snow). Toby needs a quiet place to hunker down during the day with an easy path to travel at dusk and dawn, when he is likely to be moving about for food and water.

Concentrate your flyering on places like this:

Houses that back onto wooded areas or parks

Tall grass or marshy areas

Cemeteries

Golf courses

Campgrounds and Picnic areas

Sporting fields

Industrial parks and abandoned factories

Quiet cul de sacs

Decks, old cars, old machinery, boats – especially with overgrown grass

Junkyards

Untidy yards and farm yards

Abandoned barns and sheds

Wooded areas behind restaurants, bars, grocery stores and convenience stores – anywhere food is sold or served

Shy lost dogs will often have sore, raw feet from their initial bolt, or from travelling. They will usually avoid roadways and instead travel on railroad tracks, jogging and biking trails, power lines and along the edges of fields and streams.

Look at satellite imagery using either Google maps or Mapquest and examine a one to five mile radius of where he went missing from. Look for the sorts of places listed above as well as the possible routes of travel, and get flyers and signs in these areas. Again, you aren’t looking for Toby – you are looking for the place that Toby may be hiding or may choose to hide tomorrow. You are going to ALLOW him to have this hiding spot, but you are going to try to make sure he stays in one area. Once you determine where he is, you can implement a strategic plan to catch him.

Stay tuned! With all of your hard work of flyering and signs, you will soon have a sighting and you will need to know how to handle it.  Part 5

Our tips, ideas and articles are based on information gathered from over thousands of  successful lost dog recoveries. Any advice or suggestions made by Lost Dogs of Wisconsin/Lost Dogs Illinois is not paid-for professional advice and should be taken at owner’s discretion.

Monitoring the feeding station that you have set up for your lost dog will give you important clues to his behavior and condition. Here are a few different ways that it can be done, both low-tech and high-tech.

You can visually check the area every day when you replenish the food and water. By placing the bowls in some wet sand or mud, you will be able to check for dog tracks. In the wintertime, tracks will show up well in the snow. You can also sprinkle fireplace ash or cornstarch around the bowls, or place a damp white towel under the bowls to watch for footprints. Just make sure that you don’t disturb the location so much, that you make your dog suspicious and he moves on. Try to make your feeding station blend into the landscape.

Very low tech – using wet white towels checking to see if the dog was coming to the trap to eat food out of dish inside of the trap. Capture paw prints.

These simple methods have been used for years and are very effective, but they require the owner to have some basic knowledge of identifying tracks and understanding wildlife and domestic animal behavior. Trail cameras eliminate the need for this knowledge and are easy and fun to use!

In the last few years, the popularity of digital trail or wildlife cameras has exploded. These cameras are often used by hunters, but they are also popular with wildlife enthusiasts who enjoy seeing what visits their backyard at night. There are now dozens and dozens of makes and models available everywhere from Walmart.com to higher end hunting and sporting goods stores.

If you have lost a shy, elusive dog try to beg, borrow or buy a trail camera. You may have a friend that has one that will let you borrow it or you may have to purchase one – but they are now readily available for less than $100, sometimes as low as $60 if you happen to catch a sale.

It doesn’t need to be a fancy model, and actually, simpler is probably better. It does need to have the ability to take daytime and nighttime pictures (infrared flash) with a date/time stamp.

You aren’t looking for gallery quality photos – you just want to see if it is your dog that is eating the food, and what time of day he was there. Insert fresh batteries in the camera, and a blank SD card. Make sure the time/date stamp is set correctly and affix the camera to a solid object like a tree, or an overturned milk crate. You can also make a simple stand to hold the camera steady, such as the one in the picture.

You may have to fiddle with the camera position the first few days to make sure it is aimed well and getting the pictures you want. The camera instructions are usually written for deer, so bear this in mind when you are determining the height you place it at. It is better to have the camera set too low than too high. Try to get the camera far enough back from the food so that you can determine which way your dog is entering the scene and which way he is leaving.

When you check and replenish your feeding station, bring along your digital camera. Simply pop the SD card out of the trail camera and into your digital camera and review the pictures. If you see something but are having trouble determining what it is – take the SD card home (put a replacement in the trail camera) and check the pictures on your home computer. Sometimes looking at them in a darkened room will help. You may only see a tail or an ear, but it might be your dog!

Using trail camera pictures as a tool in your search will help you in two very important ways:

They will help you plan a strategy to catch your dog.

They will give you motivation and hope to continue. Your lost dog is there. You have the proof in the pictures. He is depending on you to safely bring him home.  Part 8

Our tips, ideas and articles are based on information gathered from over thousands of  successful lost dog recoveries. Any advice or suggestions made by Lost Dogs of Wisconsin/Lost Dogs Illinois is not paid-for professional advice and should be taken at owner’s discretion.