Sky is teaching Viktor how to play. For several months, she has been galloping toward him and doing play bows and wagging her tail. He seemed to be ignoring her but I guess it made an impression. A couple of weeks ago, for the first time since he has lived with us, Viktor did a play bow toward the rest of the pack, and wagged his tail. Since then, he has come to enjoy play time in the living room, not exactly playing, but getting in the middle of everything as the dogs play around him. Sky has made a new man out of Viktor.

I first met Sky on May 10th, 2014. She looked feral, and she had been living in the cemetery for several months, according to the residents of the nearby trailer park. I captured Sky over several days by giving her space, feeding her hotdogs and chicken, and eventually by playing with her. I would run away from her and she would chase me. When she caught up to me, I would fall onto the grass, and she would bump me with her nose. We became friends, through this game, and she eventually let me pet her.

When I put a leash on her, she was okay until I started approaching the car. Then her expression changed, she tensed up, and I could see that I was undoing all the progress I had made. Even though I understood the risks of letting her wander the cemetery alone, I took the leash off of her so that I wouldn’t ruin our new bond of trust. I was very sad to leave her in the cemetery one more night.

The next day, she was excited to see me, and not just because I was carrying a steak sandwich. I also brought my chip scanner, which I should have done in the first place. She had a chip, and we were able to contact the original owner. He explained that she had been left in the care of family, who gave her away without his permission. That third owner must have lost her at some point. He also explained that Sky never liked getting into cars, so it wasn’t a problem with me or my car. He came to the cemetery, and regained Sky’s trust over an hour or so. Then he leashed her up and got her into a car she was familiar with. She didn’t like it, but she knew the routine.

Sky’s chip info was very helpful in her capture. It identified the original owner, and helped us get her to safety with information about her personality. It also established ownership, and allowed us to gain legal ownership when the original owner couldn’t take her. If Sky is ever lost again, and her collar comes off or her GPS battery dies, and Tino can’t track her scent, then she can still get back to me through her microchip if someone scans it.

Of the 600 plus dogs helped by UBS over the last six years, we could have helped them all faster and easier if they all had microchips, properly registered. Several UBS volunteers have chip scanners in their cars, and emergency vets will scan for no charge. This Fourth of July, a UBS volunteer will undoubtedly catch a frightened stray that doesn’t have a chip. We would gladly get your dog back to you immediately if you would just get a microchip and register it.

The chip is item three on your
Loss Prevention Checklist:

1. Collar with current ID.
2. Good clear pictures.
3. Microchip, registered.
4. Secure gates, fences, and doors.
5. Double leashes for nervous dogs.
6. GPS for high risk dogs.
7. Create a scent article.

If you do those seven things before the Fourth, your chances of losing your dog would be reduced to almost zero.

Mu found a lost kitty this morning! I would like to tell you the epic tale of how he heroically rescued the lost cat, but it only took about three minutes, so there is not much to tell. Zilla had been missing for a week, and Mu sniffed him out about 100 feet from point of escape, hiding under the vinyl cover of a barbecue. The owners were very happy to have their cat back, and it was an easy find for Mu, who was also very happy to have found the kitty. Being done three hours earlier than planned left us plenty of time to find a good background or prop for taking pictures of Mu.

Mu doesn’t especially like to have his picture taken, but he is a good sport, usually. I have about 10,000 pictures of him, so he has learned to be patient. I have a folder on my phone labeled Best, and every day I try to add one picture to the album that would qualify as one of my best pictures of my dogs. Today’s pictures were pretty good. I don’t know if they would qualify as Best. Sometimes I have to look at a picture for a while before I decide if it is one of my favorites. Of course, these pictures commemorate the finding of a lost cat, so they have that going for them.

All day, every day, I am looking at pictures of lost cats and dogs, either because someone has asked for our help or because someone posted a picture of a lost dog on the Facebook Group I started, Lost Dogs of King County. Some of the pictures are really great, like they were taken by a professional. Some are basic and clear and utilitarian. Sometimes there will be a post for a lost dog and I have to search the photo to even find the dog. There will be 10 acres of carpet, and a blurry little dog in the corner. Some of the lost dog pictures are a photo of a screenshot of a reprint of a picture, and it can be very difficult to tell what a dog looks like.

Dogs are beautiful. Dogs are family. Currently, I have 73,058 photos and videos on my phone, 99% of which are dogs. Maybe you don’t need 73,058 pictures of your dogs, but I would hope that you could at least have your ten favorite pictures of your dog or dogs. Just because. Just so you can brag about your great dog when you meet a friend for coffee. If your dog or cat should ever go missing, a clear, sharp, simple picture cold be very valuable. Everyone should have a picture of every pet that is simple and clear, against a white background or at least a very plain and uncluttered background, in case it is needed for a lost pet poster. Preferably you should have at least 100 great pictures of your pet so that it is a challenge to pick your ten favorite.

When I take pictures of my dogs, it helps me to really see them. For me, photography is seeing. Sometimes, I don’t really even know what something looks like until I take a picture. In a picture, you can really observe details. In action shots, a photo can show you things that pass too fleetingly to see. I wish I had more pictures of Kelsy, even though I have thousands. Tino has had his picture taken almost every day of his life, and I probably have at least 30,000 of him, which is not too many, in my opinion. Dogs are cute and funny and talented and athletic and dorky, and you can capture all of that in a picture.

I hope everyone would be in the habit of taking pictures of their pets just for fun, but at the very least you should have ten really good pictures of your dog or cat that you can use for bragging at the office, or for a lost pet poster if needed. If you couldn’t put your hands on at least one really sharp, clean, basic picture of your pet that would be easily seen on a lost pet poster, please go take some pictures right now.

Below are ten of my favorite pictures of Mu. I can’t say they are definitely the ten best pictures ever, but they are ten out of my top 100 pictures of him, anyway. More Mu on this page: http://www.3retrievers.com/komu.html

In August of 2013, we started a nonprofit called Useless Bay Sanctuary, for the purpose of helping stray dogs. In six years, we have helped at least 600 dogs either get back to their families or find new homes. Most of those dogs did not have an ID tag or a microchip. That’s crazy. Kelsy never really needed to be on a leash. She would just stay close to me because that’s what she liked. Even though the chances of her going missing were very small, she still had a microchip and a collar with either an ID tag or her name and my number embroidered. If you knew nothing about me and Kelsy, and you just saw this picture of her with her pink flowery collar with her name and number, wouldn’t you assume that someone loved this dog? Even if you didn’t love your dog the way I loved Kelsy, if you just thought your dog was sort of okay sometimes, the minimum of a collar and ID would just be practical, saving a lot of time and expense if your dog should go missing. A collar and ID seems very basic, and it can also be a way to say “I love you” to your best friend.

I like most dogs more than I like most humans. The humans I do like also like dogs. All five of my dogs now have collars with their name and my number embroidered. Tino has been through several, because he breaks them, but I finally got him an embroidered collar that he can’t break.

Mu has a weird name, I guess. It’s a great name, but I have never met another Mu. People always ask me his name, and when I say Mu, they almost never understand me at first. I like to point to his embroidered collar so they can see it in print, right there. Mu.

The thing I like about these embroidered collars is that you wouldn’t necessarily need to put a leash on a dog in order to read the number on the collar. I was looking through some pictures and I found one of Mu diving into Lake Washington, and if you zoom in, you can read the phone number. How much easier would it be for me to rescue stray dogs if the phone number was readable without actually having to catch the dog.

People, just put a collar and an ID on your dog. Even if your dog is a nuisance, and you aren’t especially bonded, even if you don’t think your dog is the greatest thing in the world, a physical manifestation of your soul, still, just put a collar and ID on your dog, just as the basic minimum of being an average, not great, citizen. It’s not hard or expensive. Just do it because I said so.

​ In the 19 years that I have owned dogs, I have only had a dog returned to me one time because of an ID tag. We went to the park for a training session and I received a call from someone that said they had my dog. I wasn’t missing a dog so I assumed it was probably a rescue that I had fostered or something. They said the dog’s name was Fozzie. I told them it couldn’t be Fozzie because he was right here in the car. When I turned to look in the backseat, I saw that he had rolled down the window and jumped out without my realizing it. Fozzie also had a GPS tracker although I didn’t get a chance to use at that time. Even if an ID tag never once helped me get my dog back, I would still want it there just in case, for peace of mind.

Joe was tired of the weeds along his fence, so he tried a more permanent solution. He got out the propane torch and started burning the weeds. It was working great until the wooden fence caught on fire. After the fire department put out the fire, the chief asked Joe why he set his fence ablaze. Joe explained about the weeds, and the fire chief suggested a weed trimmer, preferably electric, not gas. The next Sunday, the fire department was called to Joe’s house again when his porch was on fire. After they put it out, the chief asked Joe, why did you set your porch on fire? “Well, the weed trimmer you suggested was too expensive, so I pulled the weeds by hand to save money. Then I took a cigarette break on the porch swing, and I fell asleep because I was exhausted, and the cigarette landed on a newspaper. Your idea of using a weed trimmer wasn’t such a great suggestion.” The chief glared at Joe. “Okay, well, just to keep you safe, we are going to install these smoke alarms in your house and on your porch, to make sure you are alerted if there is smoke. No charge.” The chief also installed a web cam high up on the fire station where it could see Joe’s house. The next weekend, the firemen saw smoke coming from Joe’s house, and they made it there in record time because they knew all the shortcuts. Joe was on the porch, coughing, and pointed inside at his recliner engulfed in flames. After they put out the fire, the chief sighed and asked why Joe wasn’t alerted to the smoke as soon as the fire started so he could extinguish it quickly and easily by himself. Joe said, “Well, the smoke alarms were annoying because they kept going off all the time, so I took the batteries out. Wouldn’t it just be easier if you built a new fire station closer to my house?”

Obviously, this is a ridiculous story because no one in 2019 would be so clueless about basic fire safety that they would set three fires in three weeks. If they did, they would probably be in jail. Over 3 million dogs and cats are going to get lost this year, and that number doesn’t seem to have gone down in the 11 years that I have been finding lost pets. We know why dogs and cats go missing. We know of proven, easy, inexpensive ways to prevent them from going missing, and yet the local shelters are full every day with dogs and cats who could have gone home right away if they just had an ID tag, a license, or a microchip. Local Facebook pages are constantly full with new missing pets every day. I have written several articles on loss prevention. Tino and Fozzie and I made a short video that people can share easily, to help prevent dogs going missing. I offer free training to nonprofit rescues in order to help keep newly adopted dogs safer. As a nation, why are we so slow to adopt basic procedures to prevent dogs and cats from going missing? Why do we keep trying to put out fires instead of preventing them?

I hate the Fourth of July because the hot weather makes it harder for the search dogs to work, and the illegal fireworks create the highest demand for lost pet rescue every year at this time. Tino and Mu and Fozzie would love to work, finding lost cats and dogs, but they can only work effectively when the temperatures are lower. Some summer days, the overnight low is higher than the working temperatures my dogs can tolerate. It’s not just that they become uncomfortable. If they have to cool themselves by panting, then the incoming air bypasses the olfactory sensors in their noses, drastically reducing their abilities. I want to help find as many lost pets as I can, because I like helping dogs and cats. It’s all I do most days. But wouldn’t it be easier on people if they could take some simple measures to prevent their pets from going missing? Right now, I have people waiting for me to call them back about their pets that are currently missing. How does taking up valuable time talking about loss prevention help those pets that are missing today? If we can spread the word about basic loss prevention measures, then right away, as soon as tomorrow, we can prevent some of these pets from going missing, freeing up resources for the ones that are lost. Sure, accidents will always happen, but so many of these lost pet situations would be so easily preventable.

I am officially declaring the week before the Fourth of July “Pet Loss Prevention Week.” For the next week, I will share stories about my dogs and loss prevention in the hopes of calling attention to the problem and hopefully making a dent in the numbers. 3 million pets missing every year. It should be fewer than 300,000. We could cut those losses by 90% with just some basic awareness and simple precautions. It would be so much more effective than building a new fire station near every Joe.

Please help by sharing one of these loss prevention links with someone you know. If you have ever lost or found a cat or dog, you know how traumatic it can be for the pet and the owner. Tell a neighbor or a friend, and be a hero by preventing a lost pet, before it becomes an emergency.

https://youtu.be/NRq4rGKyaZk A short video with loss prevention tips.

http://www.3retrievers.com/prevent-your-dog-becoming-lost.html Fozzie’s tips for loss prevention for dogs.

http://www.3retrievers.com/loss-prevention-for-cats.html Loss prevention for cats.

We captured Viktor October 1st, 2015. In all the years we’ve had him, June 19th, 2019 was the first day he tried to play. The other four dogs charged into his room, flowing around him and ignoring him, as he has trained them to do. Viktor let out a little woof, pounced into a play bow, and wagged his tail! Tino bopped him on the head with a giant foot. That was all. His first play session lasted about 3 seconds, but it was amazing.

A few days later, Viktor howled along with Tino, who was stuck at home while I was out on a case with Mu. I wish I could have heard it. A couple of days ago, Viktor stood in the melee of playing dogs, and wagged his tail for a full 30 seconds. His previous record for tail wagging was blink and you missed it. Just now, while he was out for a walk with Fozzie, they chased a squirrel, sort of, as much as they could without me letting go of the leashes. He is making great progress.

Viktor likes to take long, slow walks, with lots of sitting around looking at things. I would like to accommodate him as much as possible, but lots of people ask me to do lots of things, And it’s hard for me to take a big chunk out of my day to stand around and stare off into space with Viktor, as fun as it is. I try to be productive by working on my phone. I will update records or sometimes I will call someone who is needing lost pet services, and interview them about their cat or dog. Now that I have committed to writing this blog every day for a year, it seems appropriate that I use Viktor’s walk time for writing the blog and editing photographs and such.

Victor will never be a working dog like Mu or Fozzie or Tino, because anytime he is out in public, he freezes if a person or dog approaches, and he can’t move it until they go on by. I think we have found the perfect job for him: assistant blog editor.

The first thing that went wrong was that I lost Fozzie. I was pretty sure he was in the house, but he didn’t show up when I started distributing cookies. Something must be wrong if a dog doesn’t make rollcall when the cookies are being dished out. Fozzie’s usual routine is to bark like a maniac, and go get a section of the newspaper out of the recycle bin, so he can drag it over to the couch and kill it before he has his breakfast. I called for him and he didn’t answer. I went over to the recycle bin, and he had flipped it over on top of himself, so he was trapped like a rat. I let him out and gave him the funny pages, and we continued our morning routine.

The second thing that went wrong was that there weren’t any clouds. It was supposed to be a cool day, and the previous few mornings has started out with low clouds and light drizzle. Tino had a difficult search scheduled, and sun and heat make it much harder for him. Hot dry weather evaporates the scent of the lost dog, and because of his thick coat, Tino overheats easily. If he starts panting, then it’s harder for him to draw the air past his olfactory receptors. We started driving towards North Bend with the air conditioning blasting on Tino in order to pre-cool him a little.

The third thing that went wrong was that after we start at the scent trail, Tino was following the scent through the woods, making a lot of crashing and panting noises, and when he poked his head out of the bushes, a man with a dog shouted very loud, as if he was about to be attacked by a charging bear. Tino’s black face may have looked like a bear for a split second. Tino was like, “Hey! Dogs and shouting! Is something fun happening?“ After that distraction, he got back to work and followed the scent into the woods, and tracked little Rosie for about a mile, until we hit the river.

Rosie had been missing for four days, after she went chasing some elk through the woods, with her leash attached. The scent trail led to a high bluff above the Snoqualmie river, and you could see an animal trail where various creatures had continued on down the steep and unstable slope. Tino certainly could have followed, but I could not, and I couldn’t just let him go, especially with the raging river presenting a hazard. He definitely would have gone into the river, if allowed, and he could probably get himself back out before the current swept him away, but I couldn’t take that chance.

As we were standing at the top of the bluff with the dog’s owner and her twelve year old son, wondering how to proceed, I thought I heard a small dog barking in the distance. It was up river, and we moved closer to investigate. We followed the rough animal trail to a point where we could get to the river easier. I want down the slope with Tino so we could try to hear better, and so he could cool off in a calmer pool near the bank. Tino got a drink and waded into the cool water as I held his leash, but we couldn’t hear any barking because the river was louder down at that level. We climbed back up the hill, and continued along the deer trail to the east. We came to a modern mansion in the middle of the forest. Rosie’s owner tried to knock on the door to get permission to continue the search, but we couldn’t find anyone. I turned my back to the security cameras so they could see LOST PET RESCUE in big white letters on my black jacket. We decided to continue toward the barking dog and hope that no one would mind.

We followed the trail east of the mansion and heard barking again. The owners definitely thought it could be Rosie. I had them stay at one point on the bluff as Tino and I headed east so that we could try to triangulate the source of the sound. I heard more barking, and the dog sounded hoarse, like she had been barking a long time. We came to a trail down the slope, where it looked like herds of elk had worn a wide path. There was Rosie, down by the river, with her unmistakable ears, one standing high and one drooping low. She seemed fine, but her leash was caught. Tino and I made our way down the steep slope, and Rosie was happy to see us. She was looking up into the woods where she could hear her boy breaking through the brush to get to her. She was very excited to see him. I unhooked Tino’s leash and swapped with Rosie’s to free her while I untangled her leash. Rosie’s boy took her up the slope to where her mom was waiting.

Rosie seemed a little skinnier but unharmed as we walked the mile back through the woods towards home. Mother and son were both very relieved to have Rosie back, having feared they would never see her again. I let Tino run off leash and threw sticks for him to fetch. After we got Rosie home, I took Tino to nearby Rattlesnake Lake for more play, a celebration of his good work. Tino may not have understood that he probably saved Rosie’s life, he just knew that he won “the game” and found the lost dog. He fetched his ball in the cold water a hundred times, and patiently posed for me as I took his picture.

Today we searched for a lost cat in the South Beacon Hill area. As we were searching, a small dog started barking at Mu through an iron fence. Mu was ignoring him, but the dog actually squeezed between the bars to come out and bark at Mu. One thing we definitely try to avoid is creating a new lost pet situation when we are looking for a lost pet. Mu just blinked at the little Pomeranian as he barked and postured. Eventually, Mu did a play bow at him, and he slowed his barking a little. I got the cheese out of my pocket to try to lure the little dog back into his yard. I had the owner of the lost cat hold Mu back as I tried to cheese the little dog to safety, but Mu almost knocked her down, pulling to get to the cheese. It was Mu’s Victory Cheese, his reward for finding kitties, not to be randomly distributed to bad little yappers who escape their yards. Once Mu was secure, the little dog liked the cheese and seemed like he was about to try to squeeze back into his yard to get the pieces I had tossed. I thought about lifting him and putting him over the fence, but I didn’t want to drop him from six feet up. Finally, the owner woke up and opened the gate for the little dog, who ran around for the cheese nibbles. She said he usually couldn’t get through the bars, but a recent haircut made him narrower and able to slip through. Loss prevention tip: keep your Pomeranians fluffy, I guess. In 11 years of searching, we have never caused a pet to become lost while searching for a lost pet, although we have had a few escaped dogs that took a while to catch again.

Mu and I searched for a lost cat in Bothell today. The weather conditions were ideal, with a light rain and a slight breeze. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, it seems like I didn’t have the best communication with the cat’s owners. I made clear to them, I thought, that the search was going to be less effective if we could only have permission to search 40% of the neighboring properties. I offered to postpone the search until we could get more permissions, but they wanted the search right away. Also, they wanted to present items with the cat’s scent, which would only be useful for the scent trailing dog, if we had been able to start tracking in the first day or two. Since the cat had been missing for a week, I explained again that the cat detection dog would have the best chance of success. Mu doesn’t rely on a fresh scent trail. He does a methodical search of the areas of highest probability. This is all explained in the free information I provide on the web page. The owner of the lost cat is bombarded with a lot of new information, and it can be hard for them to take everything in. Also, they are often stressed and sleep deprived, so their attention and memory can be compromised. So, we do the best we can.

We searched the properties that we could, and then we focused on the steep ravine behind their house. We found a few tufts of fur, caught on thorns, showing that the lost cat had been in the ravine behind the house. Most importantly, we didn’t find any evidence that he had been taken by a predator. It was a steep ravine, with dense vegetation in places, and we searched very thoroughly. When we searched everywhere that we could, I told them our results, and said that there was a good chance they could still find their cat if they kept checking with the neighbors. Also, most of the neighbors had security cameras, so there was a good chance that the cat had been caught on video.

The owners were disappointed with the results, obviously, and they wanted us to keep searching until we found the cat. I tried to explain that we can only search where we have permission. They tried to get permission from more neighbors, but it’s not an efficient way for us to search if we have to sit around waiting to maybe or maybe not get permission. I think they have an excellent chance of finding their cat eventually, if they persist. I need to find other ways to communicate with the owners of lost pets so that they have a better understanding of the search process, and can make better use of all the tools available to them. I think too many people put all their expectations on the search dog, and don’t put enough focus on the other ways they can use to increase their chances of finding their pets.

Mu did a great job, though. We would prefer to find the lost pet every single time, if possible. The point of using a search dog is that it covers an angle of searching that other methods don’t. Conversely, using signs, social media, checking shelters, and setting traps cover possibilities the search dog can’t address. You have the best chance of finding your pet if you cover all the options. I will keep trying to get that message out.

Tino and I started off the morning driving up into the mountains to search for a dog lost near a trail head. About 45 minutes into the drive, we got the message that the dog had been found. We decided to divert to rattlesnake late for a play break. Tino fetched his ball in Rattlesnake Lake about a hundred times. I got some good pictures of him in a nice setting. Lately, one of my goals is to capture at least one picture every day that I can add to my album of Best Pictures. My dogs are beautiful, as are all dogs. With a quality camera in my pocket at all times, and 500 gigabytes of storage, there’s no reason not to get a great picture. My photography connects me to the world. I see my dogs. I see my environment. Snapping 47 shots to get just the right angle, lighting, composition, focus, and expression helps me know my dogs and my world. In some ways, you could say that the quest for the perfect picture creates an unrealistic view of the world. In reality, Tino is crazy, and often difficult to manage. That doesn’t mean the calm pictures are a lie. They just illustrate the quiet moments that are made possible by the crazy energy. My photos are an interpretation of reality.

On on the way home from Rattlesnake Lake, I was notified of a German Shorthair Pointer that people were trying to capture in Preston. I arrived in about 20 minutes, armed with Vienna sausages and a snappy snare. The young female was nibbling pretzels because that’s all they had. She was staying close but making sure no one could grab her. With her attention on the sausages, it wasn’t too hard to quietly and calmly slip the loop over her head. She was like, “Whatever, just don’t get between me and the sausage.” Once we had the tether on, her demeanor changed, and she was wiggly and friendly. Tino kindly let me load her right into the car without drama. The hard part after that was keeping her out of my lap while driving. We drove around the area for an hour trying to find someone who recognized her, with no luck. Then I took her to the shelter, so her people could find her there, if they were looking. I was able to grab a really nice picture of her while we were waiting in a separate room at the shelter. She really stole my heart. I’ve set a hard limit of five dogs, so I didn’t think too seriously about adopting her. If her owners don’t claim her, many people have expressed interest.

So, I have been thinking about how much of our lives gets recorded in some form or another. In an upcoming novel, School of Assassins, the main character has his life reconstructed from on line posts, writings, photos, and other sources. If someone tried to recreate my life from my digital footprints, what would they think of me? Also, i wish I remembered more things about Kelsy. I started a blog about her when she was a puppy, but I didn’t keep it up the way I should have. This blog will record my life with dogs, and it also may be a chance to talk about some topics related to finding lost pets. I will record as much as I can, hopefully daily, for a year, from solstice to solstice, as a representative example of what it is like to do this work, to live with dogs. I will try to leave out the boring stuff.

Today, Mu and I went to North Bend to search for a cat. This cat, Ozzie, is 25 pounds, 59% serval. Mu wasn’t able to pinpoint his location, but we did find some evidence suggesting he had been around recently. Importantly, we found no evidence that anything bad had happened to him. He may have been up a tree, or moving around and avoiding us. I think Ozzie will be found soon.

​We found an excellent moth in the woods.

Summer is hard for us because the days are so long and hot, and the dogs have a hard time working in the heat, especially Tino. From here on out, the days are getting shorter.