West Seattle, Washington
01 Wednesday
Where did this happen? Could you please name the closest cross streets so people know where to look? Thank you and good luck!
Hi a few suggestions that do work
Depending on your dog temperament if she/he is skittish you search for her differently than if she is a friendly type of dog that likes to greet people and/or other dogs.
Plan of Action:
Post on the neighbor blog as you did
Internet Tools: Craigslist, PetFinder, Facebook, etc.
Notify “all” of the surrounding vets in the area (skittish dogs 10 mile radius)
Notify “all” the surrounding pet stores (skittish dogs 10 mile radius)
Go to the local shelter put a flyer in their missing pet book/board and check to see if she has been turned in.
Contact your micro chip company alerting them that your dog is missing
For dogs that have been hit by a car(s) she could be hiding near-by the accident scene so start going door-to-door asking if you can search their yards leave a flyer of your dog at every door you go to regardless if you talk to anybody or not.
NEXT very important is using Very Large Neon Posters
Don’t just use the small 8×11 white flyer. To BE Effective make your neon posters out of the largest sheet of fluorescent poster board you can find. Use a black Magic Marker and write “REWARD” at the top and “LOST Dog” at the bottom. Use a sheet protector to put your 8×11 flyer in using clear packing tape & tape the sheet protector in the center of the large neon poster. You poster flyer should consist mostly of a picture of your dog and your phone number.
For friendly lost dogs they usually get picked up fairly quickly and either the people keep the dog and look for lost dog posters or take them to a vet to be scanned for a micro chip, some people will actually put up found dog flyers, and some people might think about keeping the dog.
For friendly dogs the radius for putting up the 1st round of posters is 2-5 miles from point of where your dog went missing. The number of posters to put up 20 to 40 posters.
For skittish dogs the radius for putting up the 1st round of posters is 5-10 miles from point of where your dog went missing. The number of posters to put up 60 to 100 posters. On these posters make sure you included “Skittish Do Not Chase.”
Dogs can move fast if you have not found your dog in the 1st day or 2 widen your search area.
Tag your car means: either put a flyer on your back window of your car or go to a craft store and buy window markers and mark your back window of your car with your dogs information.
Intersection Alert means: get a group of people pick a busy intersection or two if you have enough people where the dogs was last seen have 4 people per intersection holding large neon posters with the picture of your dog and your phone number have 8×11 flyer ready to hand out.
While searching on foot if your dog is dog friendly take another dog with you to draw her out of hiding, take treats with you, if she likes to play ball have that with you as well. Do Not call her name or yell while looking instead talk in a normal tone of voice, when you do see your dog if she looks like she going to run the other way lay down on the ground act like you’re eating treats – playing with her favorite toy (ball) and wait for her to come to you. If at all possible Do Not Chase your dog.
Make sure you write down each sighting, callers name, date & time of day the sighting came in. Use a map to keep track of all sighting skittish dogs will usually start making a loop and that loop could be anywhere from 2 miles to 5 miles in length this will depend on how many people are chasing after her and where she feels the most comfortable.
A couple other tools that come in handy are cameras and traps once you know where your dog is but she will not come to you.
Good luck
Pet Detective
OH NO that’s terrible. I hope you find her and she is OK from the car hitting her. :(
it happened rite off of 48th ave sw and genesee st. She ran eastbound on genesee st.
Hi Anne,
that’s great news can you share some details? Is Zuki classified as a “friendly” not a skittish dog? How far away from the point of escape did you or someone else find Zuki?
Did any of my suggests help out? This information will help in further lost dog cases.
Thank you
I found Zuki while walking my dog. At the beginning of my walk, I was stopped by a man in a truck asking if I had seen a lost Dobie puppy. I had not, so I continued my walk. About 30 minutes later, at the end of my walk, I looked up and saw Zuki peering out from behind a row of bushes. She was only a block or two away from the original accident site (49th, up the stairs from Genesee). I went home, immediately checked the blog for contact info, which was there (love the blog!), and contacted the owner who was in Burien at the time. I waited with Zuki until he arrived to make sure she did not run off. She seemed friendly but was very skittish if I tried to approach, even with treats. Boy was she happy to see her owner!
That’s so great, Anne! Zuki sure was lucky to have you come along at just the right time! Thank you for making sure she was safe and got back to her owner.
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