For those who have a missing pet, I feel for you. This week, our beloved dog Sadie went missing. She’s an elderly pup, and we hope for her safe return.
At the same time, I want to share things that our family has done that’s proven to be helpful in the process.
1. Search your neighborhood right away.
My husband did this the moment we realized she was missing – maybe within a half hour or so – and we were able to pinpoint what way our dog was walking. Some neighbors say they spotted her, but they thought she would come home. (Obviously, some need education about the nature of pets, especially those who are new to a community, but we’ll get to that another time.
2. Reach out on your community site.
Our neighborhood uses Nextdoor, an app and website that serves as a community watch and bulletin. I shared a post on there immediately about our dog. We could put photos up of her and include a radius that would reach out to neighboring communities. It won’t let you share with the entire city, which is what I consider a good thing. Why? With so many lost pets and issues, I could see the platform being inundated with posts people don’t care much about. We’ve had many responses on Nextdoor, though nobody has seen her yet.
3. Post on social media.
Facebook should be a go-to for you, for sure. I’ve always been aware of large community “lost and found” pet groups. Share on your personal page and with any rescue groups too. On my professional work page, I even shared there, with dozens of people sharing her picture and even looking out for me. They’ve tagged me on missing dogs they think may be Sadie. No luck, yet, but it’s nice to have other people looking out for her.
4. Share the right information.
I tried to include some close-up and wider photos of my dog, so people could get a full idea of her body type. She’s a mixed breed, like a lab and pit bull mix, but we’re not for sure. Our photos help bridge that gap. Have any unique features? Be sure to share that too. Sadie, for example, has front paws that are white, a white chest and some “gray” around her mouth.
I think I wrote something like
Name: Sadie
Age: 14-15 years old
Color: Black
Unique features: Front paws are white, chest is white, mouth has a bit of white (gray with age), has some small benign bumps on her
5. Check out your animal shelter.
There are a lot of rescue groups and shelters in our community, but thankfully, they all have a good relationship with the Wichita Animal Shelter, which is where pretty much all the lost pets in our community go to. People can drop them off in a place 24/7, so I’m confident that if someone takes her somewhere, it’d be here. Wichita Animal Shelter is featured on PetHarbor.com – a likely website that has participating shelters in your community. In addition to going to the shelter each day, we are able to see their continuous updates on dogs and cats being brought into the facility. We are also able to put our dog’s profile on the site, so the shelter is aware that we’re looking for Sadie.
6. Go through your neighborhood again.
It’s easy for people to forget about a lost pet that isn’t theirs. So, we’re going through our community by knocking on doors and sharing her flyer with those who we haven’t chatted with. It’s not my favorite idea, but it gives us a chance to say hello to people we haven’t met yet, and let them know that we’d appreciate if they can keep her in their backyard, if they happen to find her. Our bet, though, is that by now, she’s with someone or she could be hurt – but we’re hoping for the best!
7. Don’t lose hope.
Our dog is older, and we’re new to our neighborhood. Though those aren’t the best elements in our favor, I trust that there are good people in our community and that our dog is smarter than we think. While I wish we walked her more often in our block (so she’d be able to mark places and have better instincts to where she is), we microchipped her (I hate the idea of doing it to a dog her age – 15, likely!) and that we had a collar on her then (we took it off so she wouldn’t wake our son,) there isn’t anything we can change about the past.
This, however, will likely change many things we do in the future. We love our dog, and I’m heartsick to think that she won’t be able to spend time with her pal – my two-year-old son, Henry. Sadie has guarded him every naptime and nighttime, and she’s obviously fond of him during dinner and snack time too. I bet she could use a treat right now. I hope to give it to her.