Even though most people are good-hearted and honest, there is the possibility that you will be contacted by dishonest reward-seekers and scammers when your dog is missing. Just last week, an owner of a lost dog emailed Lost Dogs Illinois (LDI) saying someone had contacted them from out of state, using a disposable calling card, […]
There are more lost dogs now than there have ever been. Pet ownership is up and we, as a nation, are saving more dogs, with many more people choosing adoption as their option. This is a great thing but it comes with its challenges. For many people, this is their first experience owning a shy, […]
Are rewards a good idea? Many lost dog articles in print and on the internet recommend offering a reward to increase the chance of getting your dog back. We don’t agree. We have based our opinion on thousands of successful recoveries. In this article we would like to explain our reasoning based on the […]
Facebook is great! It has helped us to connect and share our posts with over 32,000 Facebook fans in Illinois. Many of those fans re-share our posts and many lost dogs have been reunited with their owners. But not everybody is on Facebook. That is why we have branched out to include other social media […]
Posting signs is one of the most effective things you can do to get your lost dog back home. But it’s important to realize that not all signs are created equally, meaning some are more effective than others. If you follow the steps below, you will be successful at both creating effective signs and putting […]
In this final segment of our series for shelters and rescues, we will focus on some of the common mistakes that can lead to a prolonged search or unfortunately even the death of the missing dog. Most of these mistakes can be attributed to a lack of leadership or the absence of a strong point […]
Your team of volunteers has worked hard at flyering and posting signs and now you’re getting some sightings! This article will cover what we have found to be the best method for handling these. The point person should keep a sighting journal. It is hard to remember all of the details from a phone call. […]
Effectively coordinating your volunteers in the search for a lost dog is what we call “harnessing the energy”. When everybody is on the same team and pulling in the same direction, great things can happen. When the efforts are scattered and fragmented, volunteers will get frustrated and the search can end badly. This article will […]
How can rescues and shelters prevent high flight risk dogs from escaping from new adopters, foster homes and even their own facilities? And how can they correctly react when a dog does go missing? These next few articles will focus on this, starting on how a shelter or rescue can prepare their staff, foster homes, […]
When a dog is missing, the first reaction is often panic. Panic leads to unclear thinking about what really happened. Many people are convinced that their dog has been stolen, before they objectively think through all of the scenarios. Just last week we had a case where the dog was missing from a fenced yard. […]