Lost and Found

Last week I was fur-sitting my brothers dog “Jack”. Jack is a 3 year old Kelpie x Labrador x bit of everything that was rescued from a shelter.

One afternoon I went to pick the kids up from school and as always I left Jack outside and Beau (my dog) inside the house. Upon return from school pick up, Jack was nowhere to be seen. The kids and I searched everywhere, calling out for him, whistling and nothing. He isn’t the type of dog to try and escape or ever wander (he is just too lazy), but we couldn’t find him! So off we trekked through the horse paddocks looking for him, checking the dam, just encase he went for swim, but still nothing. By this stage I was starting to panic and the kids were crying “you lost Jack”. So next we jumped in the car and drove around to all the neighbours asking if they had seen him. Drove up and down all of the surrounding roads calling out for him. I rang the local pound, three local vets and checked Facebook lost and found sites and still nothing!

Feeling defeated after searching for an hour I walked inside phoning my husband to explain what had happened (and telling him to come home and help) while checking all the rooms again. Then I opened the spare toilet door and there was Jack! lying on the cool tiles around the toilet. I have no idea how he got in there or how he even got inside the house. Why would he go into the toilet is beyond me and then how did he get the door shut! Who knows why he didn’t make a sound when I called him. Arghhh! The kids were so happy to see him, I had a mix of emotions, happy, relieved, annoyed, confused and exhausted!

So after my experience of losing Jack I thought I would share some tips on what to do if you can’t find your pet.

• Firstly, check your house, cupboards, under beds, yard, sheds, check everywhere!
• Call out for them and whistle. Make familiar sounds, like banging on a food bowl or shake a treat packet.
• Ask your neighbours – check with everyone within walking distance, if they haven’t been missing for long they hopefully haven’t gone far.
• Drive around the neighbourhood – sometimes dog’s will just wander with their nose down and not notice how far they have gone.
• For cats be sure to look up in trees, on roofs or on anything they can climb.
• Call the local vets. They usually keep a lost and found record book and you can leave your dogs details with them.
• Call the local council, pound and animal shelters to see if they have been handed in.
• Check social media and post a photo of your lost pet. Facebook is a good way to contact the local community and different groups. Check any local groups or lost and found registries.
• If they are missing for a while or overnight make some posters with a photo of your pet and consider offering a reward. Put the posters up at local shops, schools, noticeboards, anywhere you can.
• Check and/or register with lost and found websites like;
  – Lost and Found Pets Australia 
  – Lost Pet Finder

• Contact the Australasian Animal Registry to ensure that their microchip details and your details are up to date with all current phone numbers. They can also lodge the animal as lost.
• Place an ad in a local newspaper in the lost and found section.

If you do lose your pet, never give up! Dogs and cats have been reunited with families years after going missing.

Until next time,
Bec