LOST or FOUND DOG! Oh, how we hate to hear those words. We often think our pets are safe when you have a fenced yard and a collar on your pet, but that is not always the case. There are people out there that steal pets from people’s yards and either keep them, sell them, or take them somewhere to dump them. This is what happened to Zoey. She is a beautiful, sweet Catahoula mix that was adopted from another Shelter when she was a little pup by a family in Harrison. Her family dearly loved her, and she loved them. In early January they went out of town and had a dog sitter that was feeding and letting the dogs in and out. On the second day they were gone, Zoey disappeared. When they returned home, they immediately started looking at local shelters and searching lost and found sites for their dear Zoey.
On January 13th, Zoey was seen at an intersection in the Lead Hill/Peel area by a man driving by. He saw the dog running along the road and wondered at that time if she had been dumped and was looking for a familiar vehicle. He went on into town, but when he went back by on his return trip, she was sitting by a pole at the intersection just watching. He stopped and picked her up. He took her to his home, and she immediately fit in with his dogs and his family. She was such a nice dog, he felt someone must be looking for her. He called the Shelter, told us about her, and gave the description of a red dog without a collar. As usual, we were full, and she was put on our waiting list. Three weeks later she was brought into the Shelter. We started intake which includes scanning for a microchip. She was chipped. We contacted the chip registry and found the name of her owner, address and where the chip had been inserted. We called the Shelter where she had received the chip and they gave us the owner’s phone number. When we called the owners, they could not wait to get her. She had been gone from their back yard wearing a collar for a month.
Another wonderful ending! It’s a shame we could not have gotten her in earlier so she could have been returned, but that is what happens when you have 100’s of dogs on the waiting list. Shelter life is not perfect. We are always swamped. But during that time, she was with a wonderful family that took excellent care of her. Finding a chip in our community is RARE. All the dogs and cats that leave our Shelter are microchipped, but that is not the standard protocol for most shelters.
Recommendations for protecting your pet
- Keep a collar on your pet with its name, phone number and rabies tag.
- Have your animal microchipped.
If you lose your pet or find a lost pet, follow these steps:
- Contact local Animal Control if you live in the City Limits.
- Send a photo, description, and location where lost to local Shelters.
- Make a flyer and post in your neighborhood.
- Post on lost and found Facebook pages
- Advertise in local newspapers and on radio stations that offer the service.