Lost dogs can also get “lost in the shuffle”

A few weeks ago, some folks who own two of my Labradors called to tell me that the dogs had escaped the fence somehow and were on the loose. With the bitter cold Midwest temperatures at that time, even Labs can’t make it long without warmth and shelter. The hunt for the two black dogs – mother and son – was organized, but desperate. Flyers went up, bordering neighborhoods were walked and driven, etc. without any sign of the two. The owners called the local animal control facility, managed by the Kansas Humane Society, to report the lost dogs and check to see if they had been picked up. They left a name and descriptions of the dogs.

The dogs disappeared on Friday, so we hoped that families and kids at home on the weekend might spot the dogs and help us locate them. After a couple of days, we had little hope of finding them alive unless they had been taken in by a kind person or turned in to the Humane Society. The owners called the facility daily asking if any Labs had arrived - but the answer was repeatedly no sign of sweet 8-year-old Jill and her boisterous 6-year-old son Rufus. We couldn’t believe that two microchipped dogs could just “disappear” without the owners being notified.

On Monday, I called the Humane Society to give them the microchip numbers (the owners had neglected to do so). The clerk looked on her database and found a microchipped black male Lab listed. The microchip registry had been contacted and the chip number reported was not registered to any owner. I read her the number and she said the dog there had one almost like that, but the last number was not the same. It must not be the right dog. I quickly considered the likelihood that my lost black Lab male would have the same microchip number as another lost black Lab male except for the last digit… the odds were astronomical. I told her that they had the last digit wrong… she said it couldn’t be. I explained the improbability that there could be two different lost dogs of the same description with numbers so nearly the same, but she was adamant. The last digit of the chip on my records (with the stick on label provided by the manufacturer) was an “A” – the last digit on their hand-written card was an “8”. I explained to her that if one helper was scanning the chip and another was recording the number as it was read aloud, it would be easy enough to misinterpret an “A” for an “8”. She finally condescended to put me on hold while she rescanned the chip. Of course, the number I had given her was correct and Rufus was found!!!

Rufus had been picked up within hours of his escape about 8 blocks from home. I asked if any other dogs had been picked up at the same time. No… just that one black male. I gave her the microchip number for Jill. She said they didn’t have any black Lab females currently and no other Labs with a microchip. She did advise me about the great website for lost and found dogs at http://www.petharbor.com/. This site contains information from shelters and rescuers all over North America in a searchable database that can help reunite owners with their lost pets. I can’t say enough good things about this service. I put in my zip code, selected the Humane Society shelter, breed, color, gender and clicked on the search button. Immediately, a photo of Jill appeared on the right side of the page!!!!!! She WAS at the shelter and had been picked up the same day as Rufus. I called back immediately and informed the clerk that they did, indeed, have my black Lab female. She again said they didn’t have any dog of that description. I told her that I was looking at a PHOTO of Jill on the PetHarbor website and read her the record number on the listing. Oh, hmmm, well that is different if you have a record number. Yes, that black Lab female was picked up at the same time and address as the male (duh!) and had been there since Friday. She didn’t have a microchip. After explaining to this person several times that Jill DID have a microchip that I had implanted myself and they had missed it on intake, I gave up and just said the owners would be out to get the two dogs that afternoon. She noted the owner’s name, address, phone and the record numbers of the two dogs as there would be a fine when the dogs were claimed.

That afternoon, Ray and his wife went to pick up their dogs. What should have been a simple process was again complicated by the complete lack of competence of the staff. They had no record of that name, any dogs to be picked up, etc. They told the couple to just go through the rooms of cages and see if they could find their dogs. The facility is quite large and it took several hours to locate both of the dogs. When they returned to the counter to fill out paper work for the release, the SAME clerk said that the papers had already been filled out by the person who initially took my call. The forms had the record numbers of the two dogs AND their cage location right at the top!!!! These forms had been there all the time and the owners were sent on a wild “goose-dog” chase for two hours unnecessarily. Jill was scanned and – amazingly – the “nonexistent” microchip was found to have the same number I had reported earlier by phone. After paying a fine and getting a lecture about dog care, the family was reunited with their dogs. The ordeal ended successfully – but certainly not as it should have!

There are several important lessons learned through this encounter. First – and most important to those of us who choose to make animals an important part of our lives – you can do everything RIGHT and your pet is still not safe! Good fencing, careful management and supervision will not prevent your dog from accidently getting away from your care. Gate latches fail, locks spring, leashes break, tree limbs fall on fences, etc. The odds are that at some time during your life, a pet will get loose unsupervised and you will know the dread most of us have shared. The ASPCA (one of the oldest animal organizations) has a page outlining what to do when a pet is lost. http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/pet-care-tips/finding-a-lost-pet.html. The advice is sound and provides an immediate course of action to locate your pet. Their first topic is identification – this can be the difference between life and death for your pet. Even if your pet usually wears a tag with your name or contact information on it, it may be missing when the dog is found. HAVE YOUR PET MICROCHIPPED - it is permanent and hard to remove or alter. Be sure you register the microchip with one of the pet tracking organizations – there are many around and you might want to register your pet with several for safety. I register mine with AKC-CAR when I register the puppy, but there are others that provide different services for varying fees. Be sure to update your information if you relocate and transfer the registration if the dog is sold or given to someone. If your pet is lost, recheck your information with the registry and be sure it is both current and accurate. When you report your lost pet to the local agencies and/or various other services, be sure to stress that it is microchipped. Put that on any flyers or classified ads as well. However, give the actual number ONLY to the official agencies so that unauthorized people will not have the ability to fraudulently claim your pet. Permanent identification and quickly spreading the news are the best one-two punch to get your pet safely home.

The second shocking lesson was how incompetent and unconcerned the people whose job is animal recovery can be. Many shelters or animal control facilities are staffed by part-time and volunteer workers. Even if there are written, organized procedures for intake and release, casual staff may not know or follow them. As with many organizations, ignorance and apathy are your worst enemies in pet recovery! Most of the staff may not be very motivated due to the constant glut of surrendered and captured animals, many of them in very poor condition. Dogs and cats that appear healthy and well-fed can easily slip through the cracks due to reduced intake observation and effort. These, however, should be the ones to get some extra attention initially, because they likely have an owner and can be retuned quickly if accurately identified. Moving out the easy ones rapidly leaves more room for the hard cases. Many staffers don’t “get” that simple logic, so the pets that could be reunited with owners within 24 hours are often shuffled around for days or never get home at all. What does this mean for you if your pet gets loose? Don’t believe anyone who says your dog or cat is NOT at the facility! Check for yourself and use the online resources like PetHarbor. Some shelters routinely take photos and post at least minimal information to these databases. As in my experience, even though the clerk looking at their records did not show ANY black Labrador females in the facility, the PetHarbor site had a photo and description of Jill. Incidentally, it also showed there were 2 other black females being held – go figure. You must be relentless in your search for your pet – because nobody else will be as motivated or pay as much attention to detail.

The third frightening realization was that ANYONE could have walked in the door of the shelter and left with Jill and Rufus. No proof of ownership is required – only a rabies certificate. Someone could have lost or dumped a pet (or it died) and gone to the shelter to replace it with a better, healthy one. There are absolutely no safeguards in place to prevent false claims of ownership. My heart skips a beat when I realize that Jill and Rufus – both nice looking and healthy specimens – could have been claimed by anyone wanting to “trade up” to a new dog. We are so fortunate that they were not already claimed or adopted by someone else before the owners actually located them! It was not through any effort of the shelter that this was prevented – in fact, recovering the dogs was accomplished IN SPITE of their apparent mismanagement.

So, what can you do to overcome some of these problems? If you have a shelter in your community, make an effort to find out how intake and release is done. If there are no safeguards in place to properly identify animals, talk to the governing agency. Get active in animal recovery and spread the word about the problems. Inform your city, county, township, etc., representatives that the COSTS for housing and maintenance will go down if more dogs are returned home quickly. This is simple logic and should appeal to even the most cynical pencil-pushers. Offer to serve on an advisory board that helps to set policies for animal control. Get your local dog club members active in assisting with the task through volunteerism and staff training. YOU can make the difference between a valued pet getting home within hours of admission or facing euthanasia a week later in spite of daily calls from the owner. Remember, someone you encourage or inspire to diligent attention to detail may be the one to reunite YOU with YOUR dog some day. That’s called Karma in action!