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Newsletter - Lost Dogs
Loosing a dog is every owner’s nightmare. As Beagle owners, many of us have experienced the “leave of absence” which, given the opportunity and a suitable scent, our beloved hounds inflict upon us from time to time. This is of course bad enough, but at least you can very often hear them even if they are out of sight, and almost invariably they will return to the spot where they left you – eventually.
But what happens if they don’t come back? What would you do if you came home and found the dog run empty? Whether your dog has taken himself off on a terrific hunt and become well and truly lost or has fallen victim to the ever increasing crime of dog theft, it is vital that you should ACT QUICKLY.
The first thing to do is to telephone the local POLICE and your area DOG WARDEN to report the loss and check to see if any Beagles have been handed in.
The next really important thing to do is to flood the area with LOST POSTERS. This can be a daunting task and naturally enough it takes time to do. Thankfully there is an organisation that many of you will already have heard about, that is dedicated to helping owners find their lost dog.
Tim Bristow and Jayne Hayes set up DOGLOST after they suffered the trauma of having their own dog stolen. Fortunately, they were reunited with their dog after 6 weeks but the experience taught them that although they had a great deal of help and support from other dog owners, there wasn’t any system to communicate the loss to all the relevant parties who could help them. Thankfully they decided to do something about it!
They set up DOGLOST to offer advice, support and most importantly, practical help.
Information about lost dogs is automatically put on their Internet site.
They will help with press releases and will give you the telephone numbers of your local newspapers and radio stations. They will also speak to the press on your behalf.
They will create a missing dog poster for you and most importantly, they will automatically email it to all their helpers within a 30mile radius of where your dog went missing. This is how the area is quickly flooded with information, alerting people to be on the look out for your lost dog or making your stolen dog too hot to handle.
The nationwide network of “helpers” is absolutely vital to the success of the operation. More volunteers are always needed, you don’t have to have lost a dog to become involved, simply by registering with DOGLOST they will alert you when a dog goes missing in your area.
Last year alone they were able to help reunite 2000 dogs with their owners.
Identity tags, microchips and tattoos are all invaluable tools for identifying lost dogs but a good, up to date photograph, showing distinguishing markings, is also vital.
Hopefully you will never need to use the service provided by DOGLOST but you may like to offer them your help. Here are the contact details:
Telephone number – 01909 733366
