AC Pup: Don’t lose your fur family member
My work in animal welfare is so rewarding to me. I love helping people, and I really love helping animals and being their spokesdog. But there is one area of my work I wish would be unnecessary. That is looking for lost pets and trying to locate families of found pets. In my perfect world no pet would ever be lost from his family.
It seems like there has been an increase in the number of pets lost in our area recently, and there is a common theme of pets lost without identification. The reports routinely come in to me of someone missing a beloved dog or cat that either doesn’t have on a collar or has a collar with no tags and is not microchipped.
It seems now I get about 15 or so notices every day about missing pets just in Middle Georgia. And sometimes I even get missing notices about repeat offender pets that have escaped before and have previously been recovered.
I do see a trend of specific breeds, like huskies and beagles, that seem to be escape artists and filled with the desire to run and explore. So if you have either of those breeds or mixes with these breeds included or are considering adding one to your family, please be prepared to take extra measures to prevent them from escaping.
Seeing the grief and desperation of families searching for their beloved pets is heartbreaking. I do everything I can to help and many times, with the help of my fabulous Facebook friends, we are successful in finding them. But sometimes, in spite of gallant efforts, some are never found. Sometimes they are found, but their story doesn’t have a happy ending.
So the key to avoiding all the heartbreak is to prevent the pet from being lost in the first place. This means having a secure, fenced yard with a lock on the gate. I’ve lost count of the number of dogs that have been in wonderfully strong fences, but the gate had no lock and someone left the gate open by accident.
If you have an invisible fence, please remember that if the dog is spooked by bad weather or loud noises they may run through the boundary of the fence. Also, the invisible fence doesn’t protect your dog from other dogs or wildlife intruding on your property.
If you don’t have a fence, make a vow that you will keep your dog on a leash with a non-slip collar every time you’re outside. And vow that you will put the leash on the dog before you open the outside door.
The other important factor is to have legible, current identification on your pet all the time. He should have a sturdy martingale nonslip collar and tags with your contact information. I would also suggest getting a collar with the identification embroidered on it or getting a permanent marker and writing your information on the collar.
Unless you keep your fur baby in a wire crate, the collar with current, legible ID tags should be on him all the time. If he is crated at night or during the day, take his collar off before going into the crate, but hang it beside the crate.
The routine should be to get the dog out of the crate and put the collar on immediately, without fail.
Using technology is helpful, too. Microchipping is a must for dogs and cats and especially for those pets that won’t keep a collar on. If the lost pet is found, the folks that found him will have him scanned to read the chip.
One important thing to remember is to ask the person with the scanner for the age of the scanner. Please only use those scanners that are very new and operated by someone skilled to do the job.
You may also want to invest in a GPS monitor to place on the collar that actually follows the steps they take. There are several on the market now. Just Google them to see what you get.
These are just a few tips that will help you keep your baby at home. Please do everything you can to keep your baby home safe and sound and avoid the heartache of losing a pet.
Send questions to acpup247@yahoo.com. Visit www.acpup.com or like his Facebook page.
This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 9:14 PM with the headline "AC Pup: Don’t lose your fur family member ."