WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FIND A LOST DOG ?

Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that lost dogs find me. The other day my sister asked me, if me and my fiance go on patrols, looking for lost dogs, as this happens to us so often.

I tried to think if I used to see so many lost dogs before my numerous furry family.
I am really not sure. Maybe I wasn’t so alert to this as much, or I just wasn't sure what to do, so I did nothing.

But after adopting Lilly and getting involved in animal rescue, my instincts totally changed. My empathy and love for animals gave me courage to start going out of my way and be of service.

The meaning of phrase: pets for life, has totally changed. I don’t even think of dogs as pets but simply as family members.

And for the love of dogs when I see a lost canine, the world stops and everything for that moment becomes secondary. I am on the mission of helping the pooch.
Only within last four months we have found 3 dogs and reunited them with their owners.

HOW TO REACT WHEN YOU SEE A DOG ON ITS OWN?

First of all, please do react. It’s someone's family, imagine if it was yours.

Usually this happens when I am driving, minding my own business, and there, he or she is… running by, or in a middle of a road.
If this is the case, stop safely. If possible warn other cars about the situation. Every time this happened on a busy road, other drivers were very helpful and joined the action.

HOW TO APPROACH THE DOG THAT YOU HAVE FOUND?

Remember, that your move towards the dog most likely will cause one of the two: the dog will run away from you as it is scared, or the dog will run towards you. Before you move, make sure that either possibility will not send him directly under wheels of another car.

Some dogs will jump in your car as soon as you stop and open the door. It really depends on the personality of the dog and other circumstances. Some will run away and sometimes there is not much you can do.

In such cases, post a picture or at least description of the dog on local social media groups, describing where and when you have seen him. This is always the very least you can do.

Where I live, Facebook is king for this sort of stuff. There are many groups that are dedicated to general island updates and other that are strictly dedicated to lost and found pets.

If the dog is just standing there looking unsure, try to lower your body to a squat position and look away. This is telling him that you don’t have bad intentions and will encourage him to approach you.

Each and every dog we have managed to capture in this sort of circumstances has been friendly and loving.
But, please be careful, you do not know the dog and his behavior patterns. Let the dog smell you, and remember not to look directly in his eyes, in canine language that means threat.
Make sure your moves are slow and calm. That way you will be able to hear / see his warning signs like growling or showing the teeth.

This may happen especially if the dog is hurt, or feeling trapped. If you do find an injured dog, be extra careful approaching, best call local vet’s emergency number and ask for further advice.

YOU CAPTURED THE DOG, WHAT NOW?

The very first thing is to check for a tag. Hopefully the dog is wearing a collar with a tag where you will find the owner’s phone number. Which makes the whole process easy breezy. Unfortunately, this is not the case most of the time.

In case there is no tag, take a couple of pictures of the dog, and post them on social media with a brief description of what happened as mentioned above. Below the text, add: share if you care <3

And this usually makes wonders, especially in cases where I can’t go straight to the vets to check for the chip.

The next step is to check the dog for the chip.

You can walk into any vets and they should do this for you, it’s free of charge and literally, takes couple of minutes.

Ideal scenario is that they find the chip, call the owner who rushes to pick up the dog from the vets. In such case the vets will keep the dog till the owner comes. And you can go home with a satisfaction of a good deed. I usually call, few hours later to check if everything is ok.

But what if the dog hasn’t got chip, the owner doesn't pick up or there is any other chip related issue.

In Ibiza the standard procedure is to leave the dog at the vets, they call the shelter, and shelter takes it from there. The owner will have to pay a fine to claim the dog.

For the love of dogs, I have never done the standard procedure.
If the owner wasn’t found instantly, I would always take the dog in. I know this is not for everyone, and I respect this. But when you have 7 dogs, there is always room for one more, for a night or two.

I just can't stand a thought of the dog going to a shelter, and I am also very happy to spare the owner from paying the fine.

When we bring the new furry friend home, first, we always check his behaviour with our dogs and cats on a leash, looking out for any signs of aggression. Our dogs are totally used to other canines. They probably just think: here we go again, crazy mummy brought another one. Cats have similar opinion on this. Sometimes it scares me a little, how intrigued they are by new dogs.

In cases that the owner claims the dog via social media please, pretty please ask for proof that the dog belongs to them. I have been asking for a photo proof. It’s hard to believe, but there are people stealing lost dogs to use them in underground dog fights.

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