Found Dog
Found dog and don’t know whose it is? Not sure what to do next? We had a strange dog in the upstairs bathroom this morning. I was up half the night trying to figure out next steps. Her temporary name was Pancake. I’ll walk you through the steps of what we did for this found dog in a moment, but first, the text conversation with my youngest child that began at two AM:
mom mom mom mom flea flea flea flea momma help
Oliver just dumped a dog on me (Oliver is his big brother)
her name is pancake and so far i can tell that she likes fig bars and diet coke
what do I do? I just took her for a walk
Yes. All of this was happening at two AM. Because the boy walked her at that hour, my little dogs started barking, waking me. Here’s what happened:
Oliver gets off work at midnight. He stops at a convenience store on the way home from work, across town. Pancake, a pretty pit mix, jumps in front of his car. He doesn’t hit her, but he does put the found dog in the car and bring her home. He hands her off to my youngest, who then gives her fig bars and diet coke. After that he gives her dog food and water. Say hi to Pancake.
What Now?
Once I was fully awake, what did I do? Fortunately, Pancake was wearing a collar with a rabies tag from a local vet. Again, fortunately, she’s fairly young, just more than a year, so her family should still be local and available. Here are the steps of what I did to get Pancake back home, as well as what I would have done had I not been able to locate her owner.
- Posted photos of Pancake on a local Lost Dog Facebook page I joined, specific to my city, along with pertinent info – where and when she was found, collar, etc.
- Call the vet on the rabies tag and give them the rabies number – the vet is fairly close to where Pancake was found, giving me even more hope for her
- Call the numbers the vet gave me for her owner
- Fortunately for Pancake, given name Perla, her owner answered right away and was nearly in tears, happy that she’d been found
- Perla’s owner came immediately and picked her up – I sent him home with a small baggy of Jones Natural Chews taffy mix – she was ecstatic to see him
- Had Perla’s owners not been found, I would have taken her to the local animal control – because I have four dogs, and because I have surgery for my cancer next week and am already in the prepping stages, we couldn’t keep her more than a day or two, which is an unusual situation for me
- Had she gone to animal control, we would have gotten her intake number to share on Facebook, in case her owner saw her photo there – individuals belonging to Facebook Lost Dog pages share the posts, in case their own groups of friends see it and know the dog
If you’ve found a dog, there’s also the NextDoor site, which connects neighbors. Lost and found dogs are posted there and it would have been a matter of finding the neighborhoods near where Perla was found and posting her photo and description. Posting Found Dog signs in the vicinity is also an option, as well as Craigslist – under Community, there’s a lost and found section. I would have posted there, too.
The happy news is that, in less than eight hours after being found, Pancake/Perla has gone home! Her owner texted me and thanked me for finding him. I’m just grateful he was looking for her and wanted her home. Her disposition is very sweet. She seemed well cared for, with a glossy coat and a healthy build. And I’ll be honest – I was lying in bed last night wondering what I’d post about today. Pancake/Perla was the very best answer, especially since resolution happened so quickly.
Giveaway
Have you entered the Jones Natural Chews Bully N Beef giveaway? It ends this weekend! And tweeting daily greatly enhances your chances of winning! Simply click this sentence, scroll down to the Rafflecopter on the giveaway page, and click for entry instructions! Your dog will thank you.
Spreading the good chews …
Flea
