- It's every pet owners worst nightmare, losing your dog.
Whether they've escaped out of a back gate,
maybe they've been startled by thunder on a walk,
or even high-profile cases like Cooper, the West Jet dog,
who escaped airport staff and ran away.
As a firefighter, I've been to motor vehicle collisions
where a dog has been in the vehicle and they weren't
appropriately restrained and they, after the collision,
they ran away 'cause it was so terrifying for them.
In response to that, we've put together a list of five
things you can do to prepare for a lost dog emergency.
I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann Dogs.
(gentle music)
(dog barks)
Welcome back to McCann Dogs, where every single week
we publish new videos to help you enrich your dog's life
and to help your dog become a well-behaved
four-legged family member.
Now the first thing we wanna make sure we do to prepare
for the event of a lost dog is to have a checklist ready.
The last thing you wanna be doing if your dog goes missing
is looking up search ideas or googling a strategy
of some kind so it's really important that you have
a checklist in place that includes things like
the information you're gonna share on social media
as well as maybe contact information for local search groups
and local shelters as well as contact information
for any local veterinary clinics that you're gonna
distribute your information to.
The next thing you wanna be sure of is that your dog
has multiple forms of identification.
Now the old tried and true of a collar and a tag
is really a great one and on that tag, you wanna have your
dog's name, your home address, and a contact number.
Make sure it's your cell phone number because if your dog
does go missing, the last thing you wanna be do
is waiting at home by the phone, you're likely gonna wanna
be out there and searching so make sure your cell phone
number is the number to contact on that tag.
Microchips are a wise investment but the reality
is that your dog needs to be found by an organization
who has a scanner and while most countries
have standardized the type of technology that the microchips
are using, in the U.S. there's actually three types
of proprietary microchip technologies,
so your dog may be found by an organization who has
a scanner but it isn't necessarily the same kind of scanner
to read your dog's microchip.
The other thing is that your dog needs to be registered
in a database and a lot of the veterinarians and shelters
will immediately register your dog, but sometimes
the veterinarian leaves it up to the pet owner
and without you uploading that information to some kind
of registry, a microchip is essentially useless.
Now I can't stress this enough,
it's really important to be prepared.
With good preparedness, you're able to maximize
that initial search.
You wanna have things ready like the dog's height, weight,
any distinct markings, any medication if that's something
that might be applicable or pertinent information
that may help you expedite the return of your dog.
And when I talk about photos, we all have a million photos
of our dogs as dog owners, probably from our Instagram
account, but you really make sure that if your dog
has a unique marking on their side, that you take a good
picture of that, that the pictures are well lit
and that they're readily available, I talked about it
earlier but make sure in that checklist that you have all
of those things ready to go at a moment's notice.
Have a list of reference materials ready,
maybe research how to do a grid search, for example,
and have that listed on your reference materials.
A grid search is a pretty effective way,
if you have enough resources, to really clear an area
or track down a dog if you have some idea
of where they might be.
Maybe you've used a tracking collar or one of those
little key tags, little tags that go on your pet's collar.
Have the instructions for those
so you really clearly know how to use it.
Now, I have no experience with them.
My initial concern would be that I need to be
in such close proximity that it may not be helpful
but I could be totally wrong.
If you've used them or know much about them,
let us know in the comments below 'cause I'm really
interested in that technology.
On your list of reference materials, maybe you have
a contact that you can use a live trap or you can contact
media or a local radio station or television station,
have those things listed as reference materials,
that will really expedite getting the word out.
Now I know it may seem strange but make sure you have
your lost dog poster ready ahead of time.
The last thing you wanna be doing is sitting at home
on your computer trying to put together the right pictures
and the right information when you know
that your dog could be just a couple of kilometers away.
So make sure you put things like the dog's home address,
your name, your cell phone number, as we mentioned earlier,
because you wanna be out there and searching.
That way, you can distribute it to your friends,
share it to those social media sites
and get out there and searching immediately.
Use Facebook and websites to your advantage.
Now there's lot of free site hosting programs out there
if you don't have a Facebook but I feel like Facebook
is probably the easiest way to get the word out
in terms of using the internet.
If you create that lost dog group, it's an easy way
to share it, it's also really helpful that people
can join the group and say, "Listen, I've searched
"this intersection," or "I've been through these farm
"fields and didn't find anything."
It really helps you narrow down your search in a hurry.
And again, with the free website hosting services,
if you don't have a Facebook, absolutely be ready
to post that lost dog information to that free website
hosting service and share it through email.
Now we've been talking about how to prepare for a lost dog
emergency and using these tips will greatly increase
your efficiency in the first two hours
following losing your dog.
Have you had a lost dog emergency?
Have you helped someone find their dog,
a friend or family member?
Do you have any tips that you can share with us,
and if you do, we'd love to see them in the comments below.
Now if this is your first time with us,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
We publish new videos every single week
that help you enrich your dog's life and help your dog
become a well-behaved four-legged family member
and if you've got a family member or a friend
who's a dog owner, make sure you share this video with them
'cause it's really important that you do the work
ahead of time, before the dog is lost.
Now, on that note, I'm gonna wish you guys happy training,
I'm Ken Steepe, by for now.
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