ADVICE:  WHAT TO DO FIRST IF YOU LOSE  A PET

First and foremost, do not panic.  A level, calm head will be much more useful to you than an emotional, almost unthinking mood.  Try to be calm as you begin this process. 

Try to calm the kids and rest of the family as much as possible and then take a step back, take a deep breath, and try to remember as many of these details as you can.

STEPS TO TAKE FIRST
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1. Make certain your pet actually is “missing” and not just having a visit over at Aunt Viola’s house across the field/street, or sleeping soundly in the basement after a big meal or long day’s walk, or out in the garage, forgotten and waiting for you to go back out to them, etc..  Enlist the aid of other members of the family if you can; this shouldn’t take very long as a rule.
      Don’t forget alleyways, vacant buildings, etc..  Never enter an unsafe building but certainly listen and call for your pet several times.  
      Like a child, you need to know where your pet is al all times.  The law requires for instance that a dog be under its owner’s control at all times and if it’s outdoors alone, it is not. In fact, a dog outdoors alone and not on your property is technically a “stray” and subject to all that the term implies. 
2. Send yourself and your family out around the premises and neighborhood to look for the pet.  Maybe it’s just found a romantic interest and doesn’t want to leave; there are a gazillion reasons a pet might wander off, given the chance. 
3. Call your local animal shelter.  In Ogdensburg and vicinity, that’s the St. Lawrence Valley SPCA shelter on rt 68, just outside Ogdensburg.  Their number is:
    393-5191.
      They probably won’t have your pet yet if you have reacted quickly enough, so give them a description of the pet and how to reach you.  Later, drop off a poster from your Preventive Measures Kit for them to post. 
4. Call your local Dog Warden, Dog Catcher, whomever is in charge of animals in your area.  Give them a description of the pet and how to reach you.  Later, drop off a poster from your Preventive Measures Kit for them to post. They may have advice on other places to notify also; ask for it if they do not volunteer it. 
5. If you think there is any chance your pet may have been stolen, especially if it went missing from a fenced in yard, you’ve seen out of place people in the neighborhood, whatever, also call the Sheriff or local police agency and inform them.
6. Place an ad in your local and neighboring area newspapers and radio and TV stations
7.   If you have recently moved, say within the last 6 months or so, it would be a good idea to also notify the people where you used to live about the missing pet, just in case it manages to find its way back there somehow.  There are stories about it happening all the time, even cross-country moves.
8.   For the first several nights your pet is missing, leave the outside lights on to remind them you are home or make them think of you.  Leave a little food and water out too, just in case you don’t notice they came around.  Yeah, I know, most likely some other animal will eat the food, but ... it can’t hurt.
9. I’m far from perfect:  If you think of any other agencies or services that may be able to help you, notify them also.

THEN WHAT?

OK, hopefully your Preventive Measures Kit made the first part of the task easy because you had all those phone numbers and most likely places to look for your pet all written down, right?  It will help greatly in this next step, too. 
   Time is still important, so don’t slack off if you don’t have to. Keep going down your list and ticking off the items you prepared one at a time until you’ve accomplished all of them plus any you thought of yourself.  Remember, I’m not telling you what NOT to do, so if something good occurs to you, trust your instincts, even if it seems to go against my advice or I worded something clumsily. 

1. As much as possible, try to make sure someone is at home all the time in case your pet comes home on their own. 
2. Keep canvassing your own neighborhood calling for your pet. 
3. Consider providing some sort of shelter in addition to food and water, in case your pet comes home in the middle of the night or while you are out looking for it. 
4. Begin by visiting the places you notified of your missing pet and provide them with a poster from your Preventive Measures Kit so they have a photograph and full description of your pet.
•    While you’re at that, also see if the local stores, barbers, fast foods, deli’s, churches, etc. will allow you to put up a poster about your pet.  Keep a record of each place you leave a post so you can take them down if you need to.  Supermarkets and the like often have boards where you can post things like missing pets too.
•    If you should have to go to any neighboring villages or town, bring some posters with you and see if you can post them in those places, too.  Animals can travel great distances on their own. 
5. . When you drop posters off at veterinarians, shelters and SPCA shelters, check personally to be certain your pet isn’t there.  It wouldn’t be that unusual for a misinterpretation or misspelling or misunderstanding to cause them to say your pet isn’t there when in reality, they are.  Don’t offend them in any way; they work hard in those places and most are volunteers besides.  Just ask if you can look at the animals for yourself in case the description was messed up or whatever.  Most are going to be very willing to allow you to do so.  Besides, if your pet is there, that makes you a great candidate to leave a donation behind too, so it’s in their best interests to support your efforts. 
6. Veterinarians and animal hospitals are good places to check, just in case your pet has been injured and someone brought them to a vet for treatment. 
7. You’re probably tired by now and at the same time have to give of yourself to your family so you could be pretty spent after the above.  Get some rest and spend some time with your family for the rest of this first or second day, depending on how long it took to accomplish it all. 
8. If your pet is returned, please do the responsible thing and remove your posters from places you placed it, and notify shelters etc. of your success so they won’t waste precious manpower calling you about a pet they have that might be yours.

And THEN?

1. Well, with a good night’s sleep under your belt and depending on who is home and who has to go to school/work, the next day you repeat some of the things you’ve already done.
2. Keep checking around your own neighborhood for your pet and calling to them. 
3. If you have recently moved, and have not done so yet, contact the occupants where you used to live and notify them that your pet is missing and ask them to call you collect if necessary should you pet show up there. 
4. Revisit the animal shelters close to their closing times and check again for your pet. 
5. Place a phone call to other places that may have information for you. 
6. You might take your remaining posters now and put them on telephone poles, fences, wherever you can legally put them.
7. If your pet is returned, please do the responsible thing and remove your posters from places you placed it, and notify shelters etc. of your success so they won’t waste precious manpower calling you about a pet they have that might be yours.

OK, THE NEXT DAY THEN?

Well, for the next few days you continue to check around your own neighborhood and with shelters and other places that your pet may be. 

   It’s possible that during this ordeal you are going to hear from a dastardly person or two, so try to be prepared for that eventuality should it happen.  Don’t be shy about calling local law enforcement should anyone call trying to extort money from you for the return of your dog.  They may or may not have your pet but are simply bottom-feeding scum looking to make a buck.  It’s OK to offer a reward, but never pay any part of the reward unless and until you have your pet in your possession.  There are some nefarious people who will steal a pet and return it for the reward, so it’s possible they could actually have your pet.  But until you have your pet under you own control, don’t hand over any money to anyone.
   Something to keep in mind about the kind of person who does these sorts of things is that they are liars and lie without thinking about it.

   Be suspicious of anyone who is vague and tries to extend the conversation with talk about money or the plight of your pet.  Remember, they are usually pathetic and habitual liars.

  It can be handy of your pet has some easily seen but not mentioned in your description or shown in the picture, mark so you can ask about it.

  You can even do something  like, say it’s an all black dog with no other color  fur, ask what color the tip of the left ear is, or front left foot.  If they answer anything but black, which will be what they think you want to hear, then they are lying.  It’s nearly certain they don’t have your dog at all.
   Do NOT get nasty or threatening with that kind of person.  They might be dangerous; remember it takes all kinds ... . 

GOOD GRIEF, HOW LONG ARE YOU SUGGESTING I KEEP DOING ALL THIS?!?

Well, how badly do you want your pet back?  Hopefully you will never make it this far and your pet will be back home, safe and sound within just a couple or few days.  But if you do:

  Basically, I’m suggesting a busy week’s or maybe two, effort plus maybe a few days depending on the situation.  If your pet has traveled cross-country or any great distance, it might be a month of more before you hear back.  Now, that’s going to be the exception rather than the rule, but what I’m getting at is, you give up when you are certain your pet isn’t going to be able to come back.  The majority of missing pet cases DO result in the return of the pet, and it seems to usually be in the order of a day or so to a couple of weeks; reliable statistics on that kind of thing are hard to come by, so I’m guessing of course, but it does sound logical to me. 

Truth of the matter is, the radio and TV stations are only going to air your ad once or twice on one day or maybe two and that will be it unless they have special areas devoted to lost & found pets. 
   Stores will take down the ads after a few days to a week or so. 

Newspapers will run their ads for whatever length of time you can afford to pay for.  Personally I would probably advertise in the Sunday papers rather than the daily papers, and for 3 weeks.  But that’s my opinion; listen to your own instincts if you disagree with me.

You could leave the shelter you put out for your pet in place some some longer period of time,  just in case. Usually it won’t hurt anything unless it attracts undesirables. 

This web site, well, your posting will probably run for at least a month, maybe more.  After about 4 months I’d contact you to see how things were going.  Depending on your responses I could decide to extend the length of time the post is up.  Or not.  It’s really a case by case type of thing.  I will be one of the last to stop searching for your pet by carrying your post though, I feel pretty sure. 

If you’ve gotten this far in the search for your lost pet, I’m afraid the best I can offer is to say “Good luck, and I hope everything works out for you”. 
   Even if what your search reveals is the death of your pet, you have still reaped a benefit from your efforts because you can put closure to the situation.  The worst scenario is to never know what happened and I know that takes a long time to get over.  That, however, is part of life, just like being born and passing is.  I think in most cases when a pet is not recovered, that he has passed on.  It’s just how my mind works. 

TO SUBMIT A LOST PET YOU NEED TO PROVIDE AS MANY OF THE FOLLOWING AS POSSIBLE:

• * Owner’s Name:
• * Owner’s Phone Number to call:
• Pet’s
• * Species: Dog, Cat, Alligator, Water Buffalo, Eagle, Python, etc.:
• * Name Pet Answers To:
• * Indoor, Outdoor, or both:
• * Breed
• Age
• * Date Lost:
• Where Lost:
• * Description:
• Coloring:
• Markings
• Temperament:
• Height(ground to top of head, approximate):
• Weight:
• Any Medical Condition:
• Wearing Collar?
• Wearing Tags?
• Anything Unusual or Distinctive in Markings, etc.:
• Reward (Only if there is one)
• General Comment, if and as desired:
• Photograph (JPG, GIF or PNG formats only) Not required, but highly desirable to have.

* = Required:  Must be provided in order to post on this web site

E-mail the information to:  .

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