My yard borders a large graveyard. The Weeping Princess ran in and told me the neighbor’s boxer was loose back there, so I went out to coax her in, meanwhile calling the neighbor. Once I got close, I realized it wasn’t Neighbor’s boxer at all–it was a loose, frightened pit. Poor girl, she just stood by my fence barking at the graveyard as if someone should do something! Right Now!
So WP and I drove down one side of the graveyard and back up the other, knocking on doors in hopes of finding her owner. No luck. Went back home to check, she’s still by my fence (it apparently smells of “sucker lives here”). We headed back out with the intent of going into the graveyard to try to catch her.
A block or so away, a truck pulled out behind me, and I realized I’d seen that same truck several minutes ago. In addition, he was driving just the way I do when I have a lost dog–both windows open, aimless turns, etc. I followed him and after he didn’t cabbage onto the woman behind him trying to wave him down, I called the business number on the tailgate of his truck. Sure enough, he was doing the Lost Dog Drive!
I led him to her and now Roxy and her family are safely back at home. It was a Very Nice Adventure!
(We’re very easy to please around here.)
Oh, and my brilliant idea: It would be so nice to have a neighborhood dog directory. Typical entry would be a picture, address, and phone number. Then the animal lovers and rescuers could contact each other so much more easily!
Some of my best team work with neighbors was our finding lost dogs, cats, and saving kittens and wild animals together. It made me realize how nice people can be. Your idea sounds very brilliant to me.
When we were kids we found a lost dog. It had a collar and tag and thus its owner was awakened by a group of kids pounding the door at 10:00 AM. He hadn’t even noticed the dog was missing.
I did one of them. The Little Girls were new to town and got loose. I did a lap of the block and asked a German Shepherd owner who is always playing across the street if he saw two little black dogs. He said, “Yes, and they are in your front yard.” I looked to my right and he was right.
I said, “Never mind,” to the lady at 911 and invited them into the house. Thisbe went through the front door, but Fiona, always the contrarian, wanted to use the side door.
If you did have a dog directory, troublemakers would make use of it. They would have the addresses where they could potentially steal expensive dogs. They could know where to send hostage notes. Others could use a complete list to know where not to break in. I realize these things are highly unlikely. However, crooks know no bounds.
PS. Many decades ago I was running ten miles out and ten back from a hotel in Houston. Along the way a dog started following me. I could not lose the dog or make it go home. I turned around at ten miles and it followed me all the way back. I walked into the hotel lobby with the dog in tow. (And it was a swanky place too.) The tag had a number which the concierge called. The owner drove over to pick her up. He said that’s how he obtained the dog as well. It followed him home on a run.
Good points all, Al. We don’t have a lot of crime, but we do have a lot of theft-worthy dogs–lots of pitbulls and boxers–in the neighborhood. Maybe we owners just all need to get to know each other better. I have a small list of dog phone numbers in my cell–either dogs I’ve found, or numbers from “Lost Dog” ads (because you just never know!).
I had a dog adopt me once–I’d left the car to porch some newspapers I was delivering, and when I came back he (another pit bull, this one a youngster) was sitting in my passenger seat wagging his tail and waiting for me. No one answered an ad for him so my sort-of-adopted older daughter adopted him and Hugo became a part of the family.
My friend got her cat this way - she was in a parking lot in downtown Toronto petting a stray. She said, “Do you want to come home with me?” and the cat ran off in the other direction. When she got back to her car at the end of the day the cat was sitting there waiting for her, and when she opened the door he hopped in and went home with her. We figure he ran to tell his cat-friends “Guess what guys I’m going to a HOME!”
What kind of terriers are they? I used to have Scotties. Man, I LOVE those stubborn attitudes. I have two extremely well-behaved boxers next door. They make my dogs look like absolute heathens.
Personally, I have my cell phone number and address engraved on tag and keep it on her collar. In fact, come to think of it, I should get it updated since my ex-wife’s cell phone number is really out of date.
Also, I would think the rabies vaccination tag with the vet’s phone number would link back to me as well.
I know it’s hard to catch a dog to get a good look at their tags, but it’s probably just as hard as trying to go find that directory and match it up with a picture.
This girl had a collar and tags but left them dangling on her line at home. The problem is I see a lot of (often uncollared) big dogs that even I would be hesitant to approach, and I’m not even nervous of dogs. I’ve seen 5 or 6 loose dogs (including her) in the days since I saw her. At least 3 were pit bulls or pit mixes, the others were just big honkin’ dogs. And only two had collars. I don’t think I could’ve caught any of these dogs, as they were all on the move or very nervous when I sweettalked them.
Anyway, I could see a directory working (with just dog info and cell #, now that I’ve revised my Diabolical Plan) but the logistics of it may be overwhelming. I think a lot of people would be suspicious if I wanted to take their dog’s picture for a neighborhood project. Maybe the FOAF network would help, though…still thinking.
I had one friend get her dog back via facebook. There’s a group on there, don’t remember the name, where you post your dog’s picture and your location. People who find dogs, hopefully stumble across the site and find a match. She lost her dog and the person who found it did actually stumble across her post on that facebook group and returned it to her.
ETA I should say there are groups. I just went to find the group and she used Lost Dogs Of Wisconsin, but I’m sure there are various groups for other states and breeds.
