Actually we found two sweet Cavaliers yesterday and I do know what to do in this situation but do you? The two cavaliers were both Blenheim like Davinia and Indiana their names were Chauncey and Channel and yes they were reunited with their very happy family last night. I wasn't actually the person who found them but I didn't want them sent to animal control or to wind up in the street so i agreed to take care of them.
So what do you do if you find a lost dog? How do you go about finding its owners?
1. First if you think you know who they belong to go and knock on the door. The worst that could happen is their dogs are safe at home and you introduced yourself to someone new who now knows to come to you if their dog is lost.
2. Alert your local police that you have the dogs they might have already been reported missing and it is a great local resource for a family to call if their dog goes missing. Tell them you will try to find the owner on your own give them a description of the dogs and your contact number in case someone goes to them looking for the dogs. Here in Miami I will not turn them over to local police because they will only hold the dogs for an hour before calling animal control which is a kill shelter.
3. Go to any other houses that the dog could be from. I went to all the houses that I know have Cavaliers and asked if theirs was missing even if I knew they only had one or didn't think these looked like their dogs. I figure the dog is out of the usual situation you see them in so might not appear 100% familiar. While you know they only own one they probably have other doggy friends of the same breed and could have gotten loose together by accident so check even if you know its not theirs. Again the worst that can happen is the dog meets you at the door and you alert another neighbor who will be out walking their dog that you have a visitor or two in case someone is looking for them.
4. If you can't see a name / number / tag / or rabies license find a local veterinarian that is open or like in my situation last night they were all closed and I had to take the dogs to an emergency clinic. I left the dogs in the car while I went in to explain the situation in case there was an active emergency. I didn't want to upset anyone and was willing to wait until they could take care of me. After explaining the situation they told me to bring the dogs into the hospital and scanned them. No chips were found. I left my contact number along with a description of the dogs with them in case anyone called in. Local vets often forward their calls to your local emergency clinic so this is a great way to reunite a lost do with their owner. The owner can call their vet and alert them the dog is missing.
5. If you are still unable to locate the owner take the dogs home give them some water (and food if it is mealtime) and let them get comfortable. If they allow you to touch them take some time now to really inspect the dog. Check the collar again in the light move away any fur that might be blocking your view to see if there in a number on their collars. This was how I found their names and telephone number. I completely missed it the first time around. I was able to call the owners to reunite them with their missing dogs.
6. I found a dog with no tag, no microchip, no name on the collar and no one seems to be claiming the dog. Now what do I do? Call Animal Control and tell them you found the dogs but will watch them until the owner is found. Call local all of your local vets and let them know. Call any other emergency clinics to let them know.
7. Go to Craigslist.org and list the dogs include:
- the breed and coloring (DO NOT Upload Photos of the dog you found. Let the owner send you photos)
- Your location (instead of saying something overly broad like Miami narrow it down as much as possible use the name of your village or your zip do you live in the north part of your village or the south)
- How they can get in touch with you.
- Say you are happy to hold onto the dog until the owner comes forward and that you can care for the dog.
- Ask people to cross post to facebook or twitter to help find the owner
9. Put leashes on the dogs and take them for a walk in the neighborhood along with your own dogs if at all possible so people really notice the situation and stop to ask you how you acquired the new dogs. The more people that know you have them the sooner their owner will turn up.
Do you have any other suggestions on what to do with a found dog in order to help reunite it with their family? Feel free to share here.