Helpful Tips If Your Dog Ran Away
Introduction
Hopefully you will never have to face the agony of looking for a run away pet. Even though pet owners do everything they can to avoid this situation, sometimes it happens anyway. To increase the chances of quickly being reunited with your dog in the event of a run away emergency, take the time to read these helpful tips below and plan ahead.
What to Do
If your dog runs away, time is not on your side. You will need to act quickly and cover as much ground as possible in as little time as possible. Looking for a run away dog is much more efficient if you can find someone to help you. One person can drive around and look for the dog, and the other person can start calling animal shelters and veterinarian clinics in the area.
Run away dogs can cover a large amount of territory in a short amount of time, and you never know which direction they are headed in. To cover all possible routes, start searching for your dog by beginning in the area around your home then spreading outwards. As you look for your dog, call your dog's name as loud as you can and check under cars, hedges, or in other places your dog could be hiding in.
If you have not found your dog within 24 hours, begin distributing lost fliers immediately. Always keep an up to date photo of your dog handy to ensure that you have an accurate picture of your dog in the event of a run away emergency. Leave the fliers on cars, in mailboxes, and in front of stores and gas stations. Continue calling shelters and veterinarian offices to see if your dog has been brought into their facilities. If you have not found your dog within one day of placing the fliers up, place an add in the local newspaper immediately.
A microchip identification is an invaluable tool which can help to reunite lost dogs with their owners. If you haven't microchipped your dog yet, do it today.
Source: PetWave
Why Dogs Runaway
Dogs at times can runaway from home. You get worried because you can't find them. Why do they runaway? There could be a few reasons why dogs tend to run away. Some of the reasons can be prevented, others maybe a bit harder to control.
One reason a dog may runaway is it is male and it smells a female in heat. A dog will go with basic instinct and try to locate this female. Usually this comes about because the female is not fixed yet and has had a menstrual cycle. The smell that the female puts off draws the male enough to where he will runaway from home to reach her.
Another reason that dogs can run away has to do with just being curious. If the owner does not have a fence in place or leaves the front door open for example, a dog may tend to venture off. The dog that does this may return and sometimes may not. The curiosity in some breeds drives them to want to explore, causing a lost pet.
A dog will also escape a household where it is being abused. The behavior a dog can develop after it is abused varies, but some tend to run to get away. When this happens it maybe very hard to find where the dog escaped. Taking notice of the dog's behavior will help detect if this could be a situation that will occur in the future.
Last, some dogs enjoy digging and just getting out of a fenced area. The dog will dig until it gets out and away it goes. There are some breeds that naturally wish to dig, preparation for those breeds will help prevent future escapes.
Source: PetWave
Options for Pet Identification
You are right to be concerned about proper identification should your dog or cat become lost. With proper identification you can greatly increase the chance your pet will be returned to you.
Microchipping
An effective method of pet identification, called electronic pet identification or microchipping, is rapidly gaining popularity. It involves the injection of a small identification chip, about the size of a grain of rice, under the skin of your pet's upper back. Humane societies, municipal animal control offices, and most veterinary clinics have scanners, much like bar code readers used in retail stores, that can be passed over the animal and read the number on the implanted microchip. Owner identification is quickly made by accessing a central computer data bank. Recently, many municipalities have moved to incorporate microchipping into their licensing program, often offering savings over the more conventional tag approach, especially if your pet is also neutered. This method avoids all of the pitfalls associated with the other identification methods. There is one disadvantage, however - the microchip is not visible so a scanner must be used to identify the pet. To overcome this, most microchip manufacturers provide the pet owner with a tag that lets the individual finding your pet know that the animal has a microchip.
A simple method of pet identification is the dog/cat tag. This can be a municipal license, a rabies tag, or a personalized tag. The strengths are that this method is relatively inexpensive and is quick and easy to implement. However, since tags are attached to your pet's collar, they are often lost or can be easily removed giving no permanent means of identification. Also, with municipal or rabies tags, the specific owner must be retrieved through city hall or the veterinary clinic involved and this may not be possible for hours or even days, preventing a quick owner/pet reunion. Another concern is that this information is regional and may, therefore, not be easy to access if your pet is lost away from home. This may be avoided, to some degree, by personalized tags.
Tattoos
A third method of pet identification is by means of a tattoo applied either to the inside of your pet's ear flap or on the inner thigh region. This method's strength lies in the fact that it is a permanent means of identification. Weaknesses include first, that tattooing is a moderately painful procedure that necessitates an anesthetic to perform. Secondly, tattoos often become faded or distorted with age, making them illegible. Finally, the same potential delay in information retrieval exists as with tags.
Reprinted with permission from www.animalhealthcare.ca
