Canine Loss Prevention Assessment
Dog Loss Prevention Assessment, by James Branson, Three Retrievers Lost Pet Rescue
The most effective time to help a lost dog is before he goes missing.
(I would very much like every dog owner to read all 27 pages that follow. Lives could be saved if every dog family was fully aware of the steps you can take to prevent a loss or ensure that you will find your lost dog. I realize it is unlikely that most people will read the whole thing. If you can't take the time to read this right now, please watch this two-minute video for some basics on preventing your dog from becoming lost. It features a ridiculously cute puppy. For a brief guide on preventing your dog from becoming lost, with more details than the video but less info than this article on the Loss Prevention Assessment, please see this page. )
Over the years of working to help people find their lost pets, I have always been trying to think of ideas, techniques, equipment, or procedures that would improve the chances of finding a lost dog. One piece of equipment I would like is a drone that automatically flies itself, in any weather, and has high resolution cameras and infrared cameras that actually work like those ones you see in movies. It would be nice if this drone had a five hour battery life. It would also be nice if I could actually afford it. But there are things that could be done right now to help lost dogs better than any future invention. In every investigation of a lost dog, I have concluded that the best time to help a lost dog is before he goes missing. Modifying your diet earlier in life is easier than living with diabetes later. Getting your brake pads replaced on time is cheaper than paying for new rotors. Taking simple, easy precautions will greatly reduce your chances of losing your dog, and increase your odds of finding him if he is lost. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially in the case of a lost family member such as your dog. If my mission is to help lost dogs, I can do the most good by educating people on prevention.
Losing your dog is a horrible experience, and for the most part, it is avoidable. Since 2008, I have helped search for over 2,200 lost dogs, either using a search dog or providing advice. In the majority of those cases, I learned about the circumstances and events leading up to the escape, in order to improve the odds of finding a lost dog. There may be completely unforeseeable events that would cause your dog to become lost, such as a natural disaster, but in most cases, I could have predicted that a dog was at high risk of escape before an escape occurred. An example of the type of dog that escapes frequently and predictably is that rescue dog who has been brought into the state from a crowded, high-kill shelter in another state. This dog was probably wandering lost before he ended up at that distant shelter. He likely has a history of escape, and he is being moved to unfamiliar surroundings, with people he doesn’t know. He is on edge, and will likely bolt the first time someone accidentally drops his leash. In nine years of helping lost dogs, I have learned what risk factors preceded the escape of a dog. A dog’s circumstances, history, personality, protective measures, and environment are factors that can help predict whether a particular dog is at risk of becoming lost, and also how quickly that dog would be found. For any dog, and especially for dogs at higher risk of escape, an owner or guardian can identify factors that predict escapes, take measures to prevent an escape, and also prepare to recover a dog quickly if he becomes lost in spite of these precautions.
A proper assessment involves an interview with the dog’s primary caretaker, and other caretakers, if possible. Meeting the dog may reveal risk factors and opportunities for prevention. A full assessment includes checking the environment, including living arrangements, yard security, and even the neighborhood. I set out to write a brief guide to loss prevention, and everything I wanted to say on this subject has turned out to be rather longer than I might expect to retain the attention of the average reader. And it’s only this brief because I left out the details of various options and events that could happen with every type of dog and every kind of family. To give a proper prevention assessment, I really need to learn about a dog and his family, and tailor the advice accordingly. Once an evaluation is complete, we can immediately take certain measures to reduce risks, and also prepare a plan for a rapid recovery in case of an escape. Below are the main factors we will evaluate, and the key loss prevention tasks. To schedule a Loss Prevention Assessment, please email [email protected] or call 206-552-0304.
Personality of the dog
When I have needed to bring my search dog out to follow the scent trail of a lost dog, I have usually charged $250, and most searches lasted 3 or 4 hours. This consultation, designed to prevent a loss, should take less than two hours. The fee for this consultation is $150. If you have received this consultation and advice, and then your dog becomes lost in spite of these precautions, I will give you a Lost Pet Consultation, by phone and/or email, for up to one hour, at no charge. I will also bring my search dog out and conduct a standard search for your lost dog for $75 instead of the usual $250. (There are some limitations and restrictions to this offer. We are usually unable to travel out of state for searches. In most cases, I probably wouldn’t recommend a search dog before 24 hours since the escape, or after the dog has been lost, with no current sightings, for more than 72 hours. Although I plan to continue offering my services to search for lost pets for at least another 10 years, there may be circumstances beyond my control that would prevent me from doing a search, such as the unexpected loss of a search dog, or if I was physically unable to conduct a search due to health or injury.)
At the end of this consultation, you will receive:
One third of all pets go missing at some point in their lives. Of those that go missing, over 70% are found, if their families take the right steps to find them. A Loss Prevention Assessment is another vital precaution you should take to protect your family member, just like you take him for annual checkups, you get vaccines and licenses, and perhaps you buy health insurance. This Loss Prevention Assessment is a practical measure that can save you the heartache of losing your dog, but it can also save you from the time and expense of looking for your lost dog. When I lost my dog, Viktor, I spent over 100 hours of my time looking for him over a 7 day period, and I lost any income I might have received during that week. I probably spent several hundred dollars on gas and posters and other supplies. Of course, the agony of knowing he was out there, sleeping in a ditch at night, crossing busy streets, drinking from gutters, eating who know what, was all much worse than the expense and the loss of income. Viktor escaped because of a series of flukes, which were preventable in hindsight. Any investment of time or resources that would have prevented his escape would definitely have been worthwhile. If you take the time to conduct this Loss Prevention Assessment, and follow the recommendations, you can greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the risk that your dog might someday become lost.
Please note that I can also offer a Loss Prevention Assessment for a business, such as a dog daycare or a grooming salon. Others that might benefit from an assessment include rescue organizations, individual fosters or transporters, veterinary offices, and other dog related businesses. I am also prepared to give a talk on loss prevention to schools and organizations.
This guide is intended to accompany your individual assessment, and also serve as an example. Tino will be our guinea pig. Valentino’s mother was a stray dog that I helped capture, and we were unable to reunite her with her family. Valentino was born a short time later, and he is now 7 months old. He is training to become a search dog. Tino is a low risk for escape, because of his personality and because of precautions I have taken. Also, if lost somehow, he would likely be recovered quickly, since his dad finds lost pets as a profession. Tino will still be a good example to demonstrate the principles of prevention.
Personality Assessment
Tino has personality coming out his ears! Regarding loss prevention, we will look at personality as it affects the potential for escape and ease of recovery. How reactive is Tino? By this I mean, is he easily startled? Does he become angry around strange dogs? Or does he want to play with them? Does he have particular fears?
Tino is probably different than the average dog in the respect that I have known him since the hour of his birth. I have observed him almost every waking moment of his life. This probably wouldn’t be the case for most dogs, and in the case of a newly adopted dog, you typically know nothing at all about his history. From experience and from testing, I know that Tino is alert and aware of changes in his environment, loud noises, strangers, or even different smells. How he reacts varies with circumstances. If he is around Sky, my dog who lived in a cemetery for four months, he will probably join in with her when she barks at pretty much anything that moves outside. If I am walking with him through town, he is aware but calm. He barks at other dogs because he thinks that’s the right way to play, not because he has any intention of harming them, or fear of them. Tino is a solid dog, temperamentally, and while I would classify him as moderately reactive, it’s not in a negative way. His reactivity does not seem to be a factor that would increase his chances of becoming lost.
For reactivity, as it relates to loss prevention, I would give Tino 4 of 5 stars. Because he is seven months old, I assume that rating will improve.
The Human-Animal Bond
The Human-Animal Bond is one of the biggest predictors of whether a dog would become lost, and how quickly that dog might be recovered. This bond involves both your attachment to your dog and your dog’s attachment to you. How do you value your dog? What are your interactions like? Does your dog frequently make eye contact with you? Does your dog always want to be near you? I am madly in love with Tino, of course, because who wouldn’t be? Tino also loves me, but he is more attached to my dog Komu, I think, than he is to me. Tino loves all four of my other dogs, Komu, Fozzie, Sky, and Viktor. Tino always wants to be near me, but he really wants to be around the dogs. When we have been outside, just Tino and me, when we come back in, Tino has to do an inventory of all the dogs and make sure each one is where he or she is expected to be. Also, some dogs are really attached to their owners in the sense of looking to the human for direction. These dogs don’t do anything without checking in with their owner first. This is great for loss prevention. In Tino’s case, because he is training to become a search dog, I have encouraged him to have an independent mind. I like for him to explore and be curious when we go for a walk, and he is not required to heal or to pay too much attention to me. A great search dog can be difficult to live with in some respects. So, I would say that Tino and I have an excellent Human-Animal Bond, but in some ways perhaps not as strong as some other dog-human pairs. Our bond is certainly strong, and adequate for loss prevention. If Tino were lost, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to get him back.
In contrast, my dog Viktor is not particularly bonded to me. He was a stray, and he roamed the streets for five weeks before I and other volunteers caught him the first time. Then, after he was at my house for a week, he broke out, and was lost for another week before I finally caught him again. Viktor does not want to hang out with me. It’s almost like he is my prisoner, or perhaps like I am his butler. I love him to pieces, but he is indifferent to me unless I have food. I always want to just pick him up and hug him, but I don’t because I know that would trigger a full blown panic attack in him. If I were to drop his leash while we were out on a walk, it is very unlikely that he would return to me voluntarily. At best, I might hope that he would stop running and allow me to grab his leash. I am very careful not to drop his leash. Viktor is begrudgingly fond of Tino. He knew him since Tino was a tiny puppy, and now that Tino is a giant, Viktor is very tolerant of him, where he would not tolerate such behavior from the other dogs. If Viktor became lost, I would have a better chance of luring him with Tino, than hoping for him to come to me. Viktor definitely has a sense of home, and I’m betting that if I dropped his leash while we were out on a walk, he would simply go home. I have been and always will work on getting Viktor to like me more, but I am prepared that he may always be indifferent to me. That’s okay, as long as he is safe. I’m glad he at least has a secret fondness for Tino. And Tino absolutely loves Victor. Tino is being trained to find lost dogs in particular, and if Viktor was ever lost, Tino would track him down quickly, I’m sure.
For the Human-Animal Bond, I will give Tino two ratings. His bond to me is 4 of 5 stars. My bond to him is 11 of 5 stars.
Strange People
What does Tino think of strange people? If he sees an unfamiliar woman, he will most likely walk up to her and see if she has any treats. If he sees a strange man, he will usually just watch, and not advance or move away. I don’t actually know what he would do if he wasn’t with me, because he has never not been with me in his life. I have known dogs that were ridiculously happy to meet any human. This is not necessarily a good thing in terms of loss prevention. Those really happy, friendly dogs may be kept by people who find them, which appears to happen in many cases. Tino is alert and aware of people, and he is not afraid or aggressive. While I certainly intend to work on this, since he is only seven months old, I would say that Tino has a really good attitude toward strangers, from the standpoint of loss prevention. Tino is thoughtful. I think he would not run away from a stranger, but not necessarily walk off with the first person he saw. Tino is highly, highly food motivated, though, and he would likely be best friends with a serial killer if said killer had a cheeseburger. Or even a photograph of a cheeseburger. Fozzie, the little white poodle, is perhaps a little too friendly with strangers. That, combined with his being tiny and cute, could make him a higher risk for being taken, if other precautions weren’t taken. Compared to Fozzie, Tino’s approach to people is better in terms of loss prevention. Sky, the Rottweiler/Shar Pei mix who lived as a feral dog for four months, is deathly afraid of strangers. Sky is very bonded to me, and to my dogs and family, but any encounter with a stranger would push her farther away. No one is going to steal Sky, but her aversion to people could make her harder to catch if she were lost.
For reactions to Strange People, I give Tino 5 of 5 stars.
Strange Dogs
Tino is very interested in all dogs. He often barks, but sometimes he doesn’t. It depends on the signals he is getting. I don’t think he would ever be aggressive toward another dog, but he is young, so it’s possible his attitude could change. If Tino were lost, and I wasn’t available, I think it is very likely he would allow himself to be lured by another dog. If it was a friendly dog, he would most likely want to play. If a dog came at him aggressively, I don’t think Tino would understand. He plays really hard with Komu and Sky, and aggression might just look like play to him. I can’t give Tino a solid rating regarding reactions to strange dogs, because we haven’t met all types yet. Plus, he isn’t neutered yet, although he will be at about 11 months of age. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I would rate him 5 of 5.
Wildlife
If Sky sees a duck, she goes absolutely crazy. She broke away from me once, when she saw a pair of ducks, and it was quite an ordeal getting her back under control. Tino is curious about the wildlife he has seen, but he’s only seen squirrels, crows, and songbirds. Some dogs like to chase rabbits or deer. Coyotes will sometimes flirt with a dog, to get him to chase. I know some people who allow and encourage their dogs to chase wildlife, figuring it is good exercise and harmless. Even if chasing wildlife usually doesn’t cause any harm, I strongly discourage it because it can lead to a dog becoming lost or hit by a car. Tino does not have any instinct to chase wildlife so far. A squirrel ran in front of us, and I dropped Tino’s leash in an area where it was safe to do so. Tino casually watched the squirrel, and then he looked back at me, wondering why I dropped the leash. 5 of 5 stars.
Quirky Triggers
I was hired to search for a mini dachshund who panicked and ran when she saw a red balloon in the middle of a forest. She was fine walking off leash in a variety of settings, but when she saw that balloon, she freaked out and ran. It took almost a week to catch her. I don’t know of any triggers that might make Tino run away. So far, he gets 5 of 5 on this, but I will have to continue to evaluate this.
Dog Behaviors
While behaviour and personality are obviously related, they are not the same thing. Both Tino and Viktor have the behavior of not chasing wildlife, or even wanting to. Tino’s personality couldn’t be more different than Viktor’s. Tino is playful and happy and joyous, while Viktor is grumpy and aloof. Behaviors may also be guided by constraints more than personality. I wouldn’t let either Viktor or Tino off leash to chase wildlife, even if they wanted to.
Routines.
Routines are important in a dog’s life, and most dogs, certainly every dog I’ve ever known, likes things done in a certain routine. If there are grand adventures, that can be good, too, but dogs like their routines even during adventures. Dogs often prefer things are done in a certain way. If your dog is new to you, establishing a routine is one of your primary goals. You should be doubly alert to opportunities for escape until your routines are clearly established. Routines can be daily and weekly. Around our house, everyone knows when it is Sunday. That’s training day, the best day of the week, and the three dogs who are training in search work go crazy when we load up the car. If visitors come on a routine schedule, than can be easier for dog to accept without anxiety. Routines can also be used to help capture a dog who has gone missing. One particularly skittish dog was located, but we couldn’t capture her, due to her lack of socialization. We established a routine with her, where she was fed at the same time every night, and that really helped us develop a strategy to catch her. Definitely do try to establish a routine with your dog, and also be aware of what it is you do every day. It can help you identify moments in the day where escapes are more likely, and routines can help you catch your dog if lost. Tino now has a well-established routine. He expects certain treats at certain times. He has a schedule that only varies slightly from day to day. Like Komu and Fozzie, Tino has definitely learned that Sunday is the fun day, when we go to the park and train with the other dogs. 5 of 5.
Persistent Undesirable Behaviors
I can think of two in particular with Tino. Bad behaviors might be important because they could weaken your human-animal bond, making your dog less bound to you, and making you perhaps less motivated to prevent a loss or make every effort to recover your dog. Tino’s undesirable behaviors don’t weaken our bond either way, but they sure can be annoying, and a little dangerous perhaps. One thing he does is simply to explode with enthusiasm while we are out on a walk. He can start out behind me and run as fast as he can to the end of the leash. I keep him on a harness, because I don’t want to exert too much pressure on his neck. Tino thinks it’s fun to sprint and hit the end of the leash so hard it lifts him off his feet. I’m a large person, 6’3” and over 230 pounds, but Tino is getting to be a big dog, and very strong. It is physically painful when he yanks on my arms that hard. When I’m not paying 100% attention, he can really whip me around and almost knock me down. One time, he spun me around so fast that my glasses flew off. I know of training exercises I could do to stop the pulling, but my dilemma is that, as a search dog, he is actually supposed to pull, so I don’t want to train him to never pull. I haven’t yet figured out a strategy to solve this problem. I’m hoping he will be slightly less crazy when he gets older. Also, I’m hoping that doing search work will focus his energies, so he has an outlet for that pulling urge, and he doesn’t need to randomly lunge. We’ll see. The other undesirable behavior is that he often nips my fingers when getting treats. I have strategies to avoid this. He is always hungry, and the nipping is understandable. He certainly doesn’t intend to hurt anyone.
Undesirable behaviors can be much worse, to the point of being unsanitary or dangerous. Many dogs who end up in the shelter are ones whose behaviors became too much for a family, and they either took their dog to the shelter, or simply didn’t bother looking for their dog when he was lost. Certainly, a dog is easier to live when there aren’t these sources of conflict. Entrenched behaviors may need the intervention of a trainer knowledgeable in behavior management and modification (which I am not). Such training would undoubtedly require effort and consistency on the part of the owner. Dogs who come from rescue, and sometimes even puppies from the pet store or purebred champion dogs, can come into a new family with unsanitary or unsafe behaviors. If you are getting a new dog, please take the time to learn his personality and behaviors, and try not to buy or adopt a dog who is going to overwhelm you. Of course, I want everyone to adopt a dog, until the shelters are empty, but you aren’t doing the dog any favors if you are both going to be miserable and you aren’t going to be able to manage the dog safely.
Even though Tino has a couple of problem behaviors, they don’t increase his chances of becoming lost, or reduce his chances of being found. He gets 5 of 5 regarding undesirable behaviors, even though he is far from perfect.
Useful Desirable Behaviors
Tino has many great habits. Chief among these his that he is highly food motivated. He would do anything for food. This might be bad if a stranger was trying to lure him away with food, but it is very useful for training him. Tino is also well house-trained, which I reinforce with praise at every opportunity. Another great behavior is that he is pretty solid on his recall command, meaning that he comes to me when called, usually. There are times when he feels mischievous, and may stay away a little. In these instances, I can get him to come to me immediately by picking up a stick. He runs right to me and tries to get whatever stick I have, even if he already has a stick in his mouth at the moment. If I couldn’t find a stick, pretty much picking up any object off the ground brings him right over. That’s not something I trained him to do specifically, but it is a very handy and useful behavior. As he gets older, we will continue to encourage such useful behaviors. Also, we do work on a bit of obedience training, such as sit, stay, and come. Because he is going to be a working dog, I actually don’t want him overly obedient. When we are out on searches, he needs to be following his nose because he is naturally curious and intrinsically motivated, not because I told him to. For most dogs, who don’t need to be independent and slightly crazy for their work, I would recommend more obedience. You don’t want to have a little robot, but obedience can be fun for the dog and make the owner’s life much easier.
I give Tino 5 of 5 on Useful Desirable Behaviors, in relation to loss prevention, even though he is not perfect.
Desirable and undesirable behaviors can take so many forms that I wouldn’t attempt to list them before an assessment. Also, one person’s undesirable can be perfectly acceptable to another person. During a Loss Prevention Assessment, I would observe a dog in different situations, and interview his family in order to learn a dog’s behaviors, and then I would discuss them as they relate to loss prevention. I don’t have a fixed idea of how a dog should behave, or what is acceptable behavior. You may have a dog that you are absolutely certain would attack a stranger if the opportunity arose. Of course I wouldn’t condone that if that’s what you intentionally trained the dog to do, but neither would I condemn a dog if this behavior persisted in spite of training efforts to calm the dog. In the right situation, you can live happily ever after with a dog that is not fit to be out in public. It just takes a little more work. The key to loss prevention is to modify behaviors if you can, but also to understand and manage behaviors that are difficult to correct. There are no bad dogs. A dog might misbehave because of upbringing, or unfortunate circumstances, or because of pain from a health problem. It certainly isn’t the dog’s fault if he has behaviors that don’t fit in with society. Whatever your dog’s quirks, steps can be taken to prevent escapes or to speed the recovery.
Safety Hazards
Certainly it is important to consider safety hazards for the general health and protection of your dog, but what does that have to do with loss prevention? Injuries and illness can be triggers for escapes. Also, vet visits are situations where the escape risk is higher, usually. Tino liked to chew on electrical wires when he was very young, which could be quite dangerous. His environment needed to be controlled for that, and also, Tino just wasn’t allowed to roam the house without supervision. From the age of about two months to six months, I kept him on a leash inside the house almost all the time, and put him in the crate when I couldn’t keep him on a leash. He has been a big, boisterous puppy, and trouble finds him everywhere he goes, it seems. My older dogs have not shown any signs of creating safety hazards with their behavior, so I trust them when they are out of my sight.
The most common safety hazards for dogs include ingesting something that is toxic or causes a blockage, bites and scrapes from interactions with other dogs, and being hit by a car. First off, if your dog has access to the street, I’m always going to recommend that your dog should be contained within a fenced yard or kept on a leash. I know of many dogs who are allowed to roam freely around their houses, and they may go years without an accident. Being exposed to a slight risk on a daily basis can catch up with you, and your dog will live a longer, healthier life if you minimize or eliminate this risk. Dogs can play rough, and things get carried away, so bites and scrapes are not unusual. I try to reduce the risk of injury from play by encouraging them to play with toys instead of just grabbing each other. Another high safety risk is riding in the car. Just as cars create the biggest safety hazard in a human’s life, all those dangers affect dogs just as much. Ideally, you should keep your dogs crated or restrained while driving. A loose dog can create a distraction for a driver and cause an accident. We don’t have a fenced yard, so my dogs are almost always on leashes. We live on a quiet one way street where the speed limit is 10 miles an hour, so Tino is not at a high risk of being hit even if he gets off his leash. One place I could really improve my dogs’ safety would be to crate them and restrain them while driving.
Sadly, Tino only gets 3 of 5 stars for Safety Hazards because I am not consistent with restraining him in the car.
Theft Hazards
Theft, in the sense of a career criminal targeting your specific dog for theft, is uncommon. Most dog theft arises out of opportunity, such as when someone finds a dog and does not intend to return it to the owner. This is also theft, plain and simple, and this type of theft is fairly common. So, loss prevention is really a way of reducing your dog’s exposure to the possibility of theft, by making sure he is never roaming loose. Other ways of reducing the risk of theft include: not leaving your dog in your car unattended, as much as possible; not leaving your dog tied up outside a cafe while you run in for a moment; not leaving your dog unattended in your own yard if the general public has free access to your fenceline; and reducing the chances of someone breaking into your home. It is unlikely that someone would break into your house specifically to steal your dog, unless it was someone with a personal vendetta. When someone does break into your house for another motive, there is a risk that your dog could simply escape, or that the thief could steal your dog, as long as he is there taking stuff. I recommend cameras inside and outside your house for a variety of benefits. They can just help you keep an eye on your dogs while you are gone, and be sure they are safe. Also, cameras can deter theft, and they can provide evidence and clues if a thief does take or release your dog. Cameras can also be useful if your dog is lost because they can tell you if your dog came home while you were out looking for him. The kind of camera I would get is connected to your Wifi and sends you an alert when there is movement. In the 17 years that I have had dogs, no one has been crazy enough to break into a house where I lived. Also, since I have dogs, I can’t have nice things, so there’s nothing of value to a thief. The only way I could see much chance of Tino being stolen would be if he was wandering loose, and someone lured him with food. He is beautiful and sweet, and I could see that many people would have trouble parting with him. My phone number is embroidered on his collar, so hopefully someone would call me right away, before they got attached to him.
4 of 5 stars for theft hazard.
Escape Hazards
Never give your dog a bath! Just kidding. But in many instances, people have told me their dog is lost without his collar because they just gave him a bath. I suspect that most of the people who tell me this are fibbing. They feel embarrassed that their lost dog is wandering without a collar, and they use the excuse that they took it off for a bath just before the dog escaped. Either way, go ahead and give your dog a bath, but leave his collar on while you do it. You can wash the collar at the same time. Here are the most common ways dogs escape, ranked in approximate order of frequency:
The means of escape listed above can happen whether the dog is at home with family, or away from home, with a designated caretaker. If the dog is away from home, the risk of any one of these escape methods is about quadrupled from normal. This is probably because the dog can be anxious in an unfamiliar environment, and because the alternate caretakers are not 100% familiar and confident with this dog. During an assessment, I would look for these points of potential escape around the home, but I would also try to expose escape hazards by interviewing the owner about common practices for the dog. Tino’s friend Fozzie, the little white dog, used to be an escape artist when he was younger. After the first time he bolted out a door past me, I put a GPS tracker on him. After that, he bolted about 7 more times, and I used the GPS unit to track him down quickly, within 5 minutes. Without the GPS, I would have no way of knowing which way he turned, and finding him would have taken longer. Tino, on the other hand, would not try to escape even if there was an opportunity. If he did walk out a door that blew open, he would just come right back in, to be with his dog buddies. Tino might follow one of the other dogs out, but he would also follow that dog back in fairly soon.
Tino’s environment rates 4 of 5 stars for escape risk. It could be improved with surveillance cameras and a fence.
Basic Health Hazards
Of course, your dog’s health is important anyway, but it matters for loss prevention in the sense that injuries or illnesses can cause a dog to run off in panic, or to hide because he’s not feeling well. Both situations can increase the risk of loss. A long time ago, before I had any of my current five dogs, I gave one of my three dogs a grape, and I thought it was funny that a dog would eat a grape. Then I wanted to see if the other two would eat grapes, and before long, they had finished off a bunch of grapes. It was cute to watch them eat them so carefully. Only after feeding each dog about ten grapes did it occur to me that grapes might not be good for dogs. I googled it, and of course I now know that grapes are poisonous to dogs, so off to the emergency room we went. On another occasion, my dog Tess ate half a bag of chocolates, including the foil wrappers. The vet said it would not be enough chocolate to make her sick, given her body weight, so I should just keep an eye on her. Some dogs have gotten sick or died from eating mushrooms. While we were on a search, Komu may or may not have eaten some rat poison that was placed improperly beside a deck, so I had to rush him to the emergency vet, for $500 of treatment, just to be on the safe side. Things disappear into a dog’s mouth so quickly that it’s hard to know what they have eaten sometimes. There may be other safety hazards around a house, especially during remodeling or construction. A survey of the house and yard, and a review of habits and practices, can uncover previously unknown hazards.
Tino’s environment and practices rate 5 of 5 stars for safety hazards, mostly because I’ve learned from my mistakes with previous dogs.
Equipment
Collars
First, just keeping a collar on your dog is a great first step. Many people take their dogs’ collars off because they are concerned about a safety hazard if the collar is caught on some object or if the dog gets himself entangled with the collar some how. In seventeen years of dog ownership, my dogs have worn their collars 24/7, and we have had no incidents. It is true that some dogs have died because their collars were snagged somehow. Although this is tragic, the number of deaths from collar accidents is insignificant compared to the risks you expose your dog to if he ends up roaming without a collar and ID. More dogs die from suffocating with their snouts in potato chip bags than die from getting their collars caught. If your dog has a particular habit or circumstance where the risk from a collar is higher, then switch to a breakaway collar, or a harness instead. Having a collar with some sort of ID is the most essential precaution you can take against loss. Every day, a dozen new dogs end up in area shelters, probably 50,000 dogs each day in the entire US. All of those thousands of dogs would be home already if they simply had collars with ID.
There are many types of collars you can get. I prefer collars with my phone number embroidered in the fabric. That way, my number is visible from several feet away, and someone would be able to call me about my lost dog even if they were unable to actually put a leash on him. Also, with the number embroidered, you don’t need to worry if the tag comes off for some reason. A Martingale style collar is one that tightens up when your dog tries to back out of it. When adjusted properly, a Martingale collar is nearly impossible to get out of. I know, because my dog Sky goes completely crazy sometimes, and she has been unable to wriggle out of her Martingale collar. If this collar can hold Sky while she is trying to run off, it should be able to hold any dog. Training collars, such as prong collars, pinch collars, shock collars, or choke chains, are not the best way to be training a dog; they can be dangerous, and people usually don’t leave these training collars on all the time. For loss prevention, you want a good quality collar that can be left on at all times. Some people like to give their dogs fashionable collars, which is fine as long as the collar is of good quality and has ID. An unusual collar may even help if your dog is lost because a distinctive collar will stand out with witnesses. Lighted collars are great for walking at night. Attaching a GPS unit to the collar can make it even safer.
Tags
Any tag is better than no tag. Certainly you should keep the phone number up to date. There are gimmicky tags that have QR codes and such, but I haven’t found that to be an advantage over simply having your phone number on the tag. You can get tags made at most pet stores and even some grocery stores or hardware stores. If you can’t get a tag immediately for a dog that recently came under your care, perhaps because you found him wandering, then write your number on a piece of paper and tape it to the collar. Anything is better than nothing. If jingling tags keep you awake at night, then you can go with the embroidered collar mentioned above.
Microchip
For loss prevention and recovery, the microchip is probably the single most important thing you can do for your dog. Collars come off, but the microchip will always be there. Our shelters would be empty if all those cats and dogs had chips. Be sure that your microchip company has your correct contact information. Also, have the chip scanned every time you take your dog in for an exam, to make sure it is working, and that it hasn’t migrated to some other area of the body.
Leashes
Regarding loss prevention and safety, I don’t recommend retractable leashes. If your dog is out at the end of a retractable leash, he can get into trouble before you manage to reel him in. Also, the thin cable can fail easier than a standard leash. If you drop the handle of your retractable leash, it is going to go zooming toward your dog, probably startling him, and then it can bang along on the pavement as he runs, sending him flying off in a panic. If you need to use a longer leash for some reason, as I do during searches, please use a nylon fabric leash or a leather leash in a 15’, 20’, or 30’ length. Sure, it’s not as convenient sometimes as a retractable, but it is much safer. If my search dog faces a risk while on a search, such as traffic or a charging dog, I can pull him back to me much faster with the standard nylon leash than I could with a retractable. Also, you can get leashes embroidered with your number on them, in case you drop the leash and your dog runs off.
Harnesses
A harness can be preferable to a collar for some dogs, or you can have a harness and a collar. Tino wears both, and his leash is attached to his harness because he really yanks on the leash sometimes, and I wouldn’t want that much force on his young puppy neck. If you have a new foster dog or a newly adopted rescue dog, always start off with a collar and a harness, and have two leashes, one attached to each. Put ID on the harness, too, in addition to ID on the collar, in case one or the other pops off. For comfort and safety, I prefer the type of harness that has webbing or fabric along the chest and neck. Tino hits the end of his leash at ninety miles an hour, and he never shows any sign that the harness hurts him. Viktor is an odd duck who prefers to spend most of his day in his kennel, away from the rest of us. Because I’m not observing as closely, I prefer to have him in a harness, not a collar, for the slight risk that a collar might get caught on his kennel somehow. In general, a harness will stay on more securely than a collar, but that isn’t always the case, especially with small dogs. Test your harness by pulling toward the dog’s head, to see if it will slip off.
Lights
I strongly recommend a light on your dog’s collar if you are in the habit of going for walks at night. It will alert people to your presence, and I have found that cars really slow down around us when my dogs have lights on their collars. Also, if your dog escapes somehow, the lighted collar will help you keep track of him longer.
GPS Tracking Devices
When Fozzie was younger, he was a little rascal, and he liked to run off. It wasn’t that he wanted to get away from me and the other dogs: he has always loved us and wanted to be near us at all times. Fozzie would bolt just because he likes adventure, and he likes to run wild like a crazy little man. A GPS tracker probably saved his life because it allowed me to pinpoint him quickly, before he faced too much risk from traffic and other dogs. We had very good luck with that particular brand of GPS unit. When they were bought out by another company, their devices became unreliable. In fact, I had a GPS unit on Viktor before he escaped, but I couldn’t get it to work. I was on the phone with customer service for hours, and the device still wouldn’t work. I had taken it off Viktor, because it wasn’t working anyway and I was going through the recommended procedures for rebooting it. Even though I knew Viktor was a high risk for escape, because of his history, and even though I put a GPS unit on him, it was no help because the unit failed. I wish I could recommend a particular brand of GPS which would be highly reliable, but so far I haven’t found a brand I could recommend. If your dog is a high risk of escape, please do research the various GPS devices, and pick the one that looks best to you, based on reviews. If it doesn’t work as advertised, stay on top of customer service and make sure they get it working for you. I hope someday in the near future, GPS units will be reliable, durable, long-lasting, and inexpensive. If they were, I would recommend a GPS unit for every dog.
I have ordered a GPS tracker for Tino, but it was supposed to be here three months ago and still hasn’t arrived, supposedly due to some manufacturing glitch. I don’t have high hopes for this device, but I’m going to give it a try. Tino ranks 5 of 5 on equipment, even though he doesn’t have the GPS unit yet.
Extra Precautions
In addition to proper equipment, safety inspections, training, and security cameras, there are still more precautions you can and should take. If you have never gone through the experience of losing a dog, you might think these precautions are excessive. You might think you know dogs and you know how to handle them, so something like this wouldn’t happen to you. Well, after eight years of finding lost pets, as a volunteer and as a professional, it happened to me, in spite of the precautions I had taken. Losing Viktor was a harrowing experience, and one I could have avoided with just one or two more precautions. I mean, I had already done so much, it wouldn’t have taken that much effort to do a couple of more things to ensure his safety. If you have ever experienced the loss of a dog, I think you will agree with me that redundant precautions are not a waste of time.
Preserve a Scent Article
A simple, easy thing you can do, which costs less than a dollar and takes less than two minutes, is to make and store a scent article. This is a sample of your dog’s scent, which is stored in the freezer, in case you ever need a search dog to look for your lost dog. A proper scent article can make a big difference to a search dog. If you have multiple pets, it can sometimes be difficult to find anything that hasn’t come into contact with other pets in the household besides the one that is lost. A contaminated scent article can make it difficult or impossible for a search dog to follow the correct scent trail. To make and secure a pure scent article is easy and quick. You need a sterile gauze pad, a plastic sandwich bag, and a permanent marker. You rub the gauze pad all over your dog, especially around the mouth and ears. If you can, try to wipe the gauze pad between your dog’s toes, as they have oil glands there. If your dog sheds much, try to pull out a little hair on the gauze pad. Put the gauze pad in the plastic bag and seal it securely. Mark the outside of the bag with permanent marker, with your dog’s name and the date. Store this in your freezer. A frozen scent article is good for up to three years, but I recommend creating a new one every six months, just to be on the safe side, in case your dog’s scent might change, due to aging, illness, or diet change. Do this for each of your pets, or any pet that is in your care temporarily. It would be especially important to create a scent article before you go on vacation.
Recall Command
This is something you should focus on in the beginning, when you first get a dog, and also continue to train, as a tuneup. The easiest way I have found to work on the recall command is to first get the dog to sit and stay as you back away from him. If your dog is anything like mine, he will be anxious to break out of the sit-stay, as if he is sitting on an ant hill. When you call him to come to you, he should burst toward you because he was dying to be released from the sit-stay. Treats help, of course. Teaching a dog to play fetch, in a safe, enclosed area, is also a great way to teach the recall command. When he is naturally inclined to return to you, as part of the game, ask him to come just before he makes the turn, so he becomes accustomed to coming when you call.
Update records with the chip company and your vet
I have found many stray dogs with no known owner. I carry a microchip scanner with me everywhere I go, and if a dog doesn’t have tags, I scan him right away. Much of the time, perhaps a quarter to a third of the time, the chip was never registered to the owner, or the contact info is obsolete. There are still ways to find the owner, with a little detective work. Or maybe the owner will call the chip company and get my phone number. There have been a few cases where a dog had a chip but the owner was never found. Sometimes a chip leads back to a veterinary clinic where the chip was implanted, but that vet might not have your current phone number. While you are updating records, create a file with current pictures, contact numbers, chip number, and basic data about your dog. Share this info with a relative or trusted friend. If your house burns down or your phone is stolen, that info will be safe with someone, and you can retrieve it quickly or your friend can share it for you.
Photographs
At this moment, I have 37,480 photos and videos on my iPhone. At least 36,000 of those are dogs or cats. Tino has been photographed every day of his life so far, and if he lives to be 15 years old, they will need to invent some new storage device for all the millions of pictures and videos I will have of him. Of course, Tino is a ridiculously handsome dog, and I enjoy photography. If Tino was ever lost, the main difficulty would be to choose which of a thousand pictures to use for the poster and the flier. I have been asked to search for lost dogs and cats where there aren’t good pictures available. In one particular case of a miniature schnauzer, the only picture they had was of their terrified dog sitting on the lap of The Grinch. I remember seeing Lost Dog posters around the area with a picture of The Grinch with a gray blob on his lap. It could have been a raccoon or a toaster, especially after the rain blurred the picture. In cases where the dog was newly adopted or just came into the foster home, no one had gotten around to taking pictures. If a dog comes under my care, even if it is a stray I just found wandering the street, one of the first things I do is to snap a few pictures. These days, almost everyone has a really good quality camera built right into her phone. Pictures can be very important in some situations, and it is easier than ever to get them.
Lost Dog Flyer Shot
Before your dog goes missing, take a few pictures against a plain background, preferably white or light in color. This should be easy to do. You can just have him stand near a wall inside your house. This picture should show his face clearly, and also give you a good idea of his body type. It would be nice if you could include any identifying marks or features. It’s not necessary for your dog to look happy or playful in this picture, but hopefully he doesn’t look annoyed. For this picture, you will probably want to make him hold a pose by offering a treat, held near the camera lens. One tip for better pictures of your dog: don’t hold your camera straight out in front of you, like you are pointing it at the dog. Instead, turn your body to the side, and hold your camera at an angle so it looks like you are pointing the phone away, past your dog. Because you can view the screen at an angle, you can still compose the photograph pretty good, and you can always crop it a little, later, if it’s crooked or off-center. As part of a Loss Prevention Assessment, I would take a few dozen pictures for you, and also give you tips on how to get better dog pictures. For this Lost Dog Flyer Shot, you want a clear, simple picture with a white or light background for two reasons. First, if someone is walking or driving past your flyer, the white background will make your dog stand out, and also make it easier to see the shape of your dog. Second, if you are printing hundreds of fliers, especially on your home printer, the white background can save a lot of ink, and save you a trip to the store for a replacement cartridge.
Clear Pictures of Identifying Features
These pictures are not for sharing, necessarily. You just want to keep them in a file, perhaps on Dropbox or Google Drive, just in case. Tino has a distinct pattern on his chest, that I haven’t seen on any other dog. Also, although he looks like a lot of German Shepherds, his facial pattern is fairly uncommon. I’ve seen a few dogs that looked so similar that I had to look really close to see the difference from Tino. I have close up shots of just these features. If anyone ever found Tino, they might post an ad on Craigslist, saying the owner needs to provide proof of ownership. Of course, Tino has a chip, but I could also quickly send someone these closeups of his markings, and there would be no doubt he was my dog. Be sure to take pictures over time, if your dog’s appearance changes because he is growing or because his hair grows out between grooming appointments. Fozzie, the white poodle, can look like a completely different dog if you compare his hair at its longest versus right after getting home from the groomer. Fozzie looks different even when it rains. I have pictures of him in all those situations. He doesn’t really have any distinguishing marks because he is all white. The only thing really distinctive is that his ears are more golden blonde than white. This shows up in some pictures but not others.
Glamour Shots
Take some pictures that make your dog look his best. He is freshly bathed and groomed, and you have good lighting and good backgrounds. You might even want to hire a professional photographer to shoot portraits of your dog. While I’m not a professional photographer, many people have told me that they love my pictures of dogs. Your assessment will include providing the best photos I can take, based on many decades of taking pictures. The purpose of high quality portraits is not necessarily for posters and fliers. These would more likely be used on Facebook, or on a blog or web page dedicated to your dog. Unfortunately, people will generally be more willing to help a lost dog that they think is attractive. Pretty pictures of a dog get shared more often than ones that are blurry or poorly lit. It is sad to think this way, but your lost dog is competing with dozens of other lost dogs, to get the attention of potential rescuers and volunteers. All dogs are wonderful, and all dogs are beautiful. It is sad but true that the dog with the best pictures gets the most attention in ads on craigslist and on social media. A really great picture of your dog also shows that your dog is a highly valued family member. If people see that you are investing a lot of your time and attention in your dog, they may be more willing to invest their time and attention. If they get the impression that your dog isn’t particularly important to you, they may be less motivated to spend their time and attention on the search for your dog.
Happy Pictures
Another category of pictures you want for social media and lost dog ads are a few shots showing your dog having a good time, even if the picture doesn’t necessarily do a good job of showing identifying features. Social media is all about pictures, and a playful or cute dog catches people’s attention. This pictures may even show your dog at angles or distances that distort his appearance, but the important thing is that the dog is obviously having fun, perhaps playing in the snow, or splashing in the waves at the beach, or playing Tug of War. Pehaps you snapped his picture while his face is distorted when he is snapping at a treat in mid air. Having him in a hat or a costume is great, as long as he doesn’t look miserable. Or maybe he is covered in mud after a trip to the park. These sorts of pictures draw people in and get them involved.
Videos
Also shoot a few short videos, perhaps 7 seconds to 20 seconds. These can be scenes of him playing, or just walking in the park, enjoying a sunny day. In a way, you should think of these videos as being an advertisement for your dog. If he is lost, you will need to advertise him, promote him, in order to get people to pay attention. Most smartphones have apps for making movies, and you can quickly put together a short video, perhaps containing a few still photos for clarity. On my iPhone, it is really easy to add text, such as a phone number. A video can also give people a sense of how your dog moves. As part of your assessment, I will provide you with a video that contains a few short video segments, the clear shot that would go on flyers, the glamour shots, and some happy pictures. I can send you two versions: one that you can share now if you want, and one with your phone number included, in case your dog goes missing.
In terms of photographs, Tino is off the charts, earning 500 of 5 stars.
The Status of Your Dog
I’m crazy about dogs, obviously. I spend pretty much every waking moment with a dog, thinking about dogs and cats, writing about them and taking their pictures. My work is all about dogs, and I started a nonprofit for stray dogs. Dogs are VIPs in my house. Not everyone views dogs this way. For some, a dog is an animal that serves a purpose, and maybe he is out in the yard all the time, to bark if a stranger comes around. Maybe you were stuck with a dog when someone moved out or passed away. Some people have dogs even though they don’t particularly like them. Some people have a strained relationship with their dogs, even though they love them, because of ongoing behavior problems. If my dog was lost, I would drop everything else and do nothing but search for him until he was found, however long that took. If you wouldn’t say that you necessarily feel the same about your dog, well, you probably wouldn’t have read this far. But if you have read this far and you would like to elevate your dog’s status in your house, think about ways that you can become more involved with your dog. Photography is a great way to deepen your attachment, as long as it isn’t an activity that is frustrating for either you or your dog. Maybe you can take videos of your dog riding around the kitchen on a robotic vacuum cleaner. Taking long walks with your dog is a great way to bond, as long as it isn’t a battle for you to keep control, and as long as walking your dog doesn’t elevate his risk of escape. Dogs need jobs, and they are happier when they have fulfilling work. Find a job your dog can do, even if it is as simple as playing fetch. Obedience training can and should be fun for you and your dog. Maybe your dog can learn to do agility courses, or you can develop a dance routine with your dog. I work with my dogs. They are my partners. I rely on them and they rely on me. I don’t have human children, and my dogs are my adopted children. This wasn’t always the case, and my dogs have achieved higher status in my family over the years. To reduce your dog’s chances of becoming lost, and to increase your chances of finding him if he were lost, think about ways your dog’s status could be elevated in your household. If you are reading this, or if you would hire me to do a loss prevention assessment, chances are that your dog already has the highest status in your house. If not, think about what might be stopping him from being that valuable in your household.
Circumstances with Elevated Risk
Many of the cases for which I am asked to search for a dog involve the owners being on vacation. So much so, that I simply won’t go on vacation without my dogs. I haven’t travelled in years. I used to take my dogs hiking, and when I look back on those hikes, which were wonderful, creating great memories, I now see I was exposing my dogs to an elevated risk of loss. I would certainly do things differently now. While I’m not suggesting that you abandon any plans of traveling or vacationing, I do think it’s a good idea to consider vacations, travel, and other times of year when your dogs face an elevated risk of escape. During holidays like the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve, when stupidity is epidemic, we pretty much retreat to the basement until the world regains its senses.
Out of Area Travel
The only way I could see myself traveling would be if I could rent or buy an RV. It would have to be a mobile fortress, with security cameras inside and out, which I could monitor from my phone if I was away from the vehicle. It would be nice if it also had a machine gun turret on top. This machine gun would be operated by remote control, and I could fire it from my iPhone if anyone got too close to my dogs while I was having lunch at a local cafe. If I ever do take time off from work, I am happy to just go to the beach or a local lake. Every year, we drive to Useless Bay on Whidbey Island, and romp around the off-leash park. That’s about as much vacation as I need. I think I’m rather unusual in this regard, and many pet owners love to travel, with or without their pets. It can be done safely, or at least there are safety precautions you can take for travel.
Keep in mind that dogs like their routines, and travel tends to disrupt those routines. If things like walks and meals will be happening at different times of day, that can lead to anxiety in a dog, and a greater risk of flight. If there are new caretakers, they might do things differently, or not be aware of a dog’s likes and dislikes. One of the main ways to prepare for a time of elevated flight risk is to make sure you are prepared in terms of equipment and precautions. This means collar, ID, harness, quality leashes, crates, GPS tracking unit, having your photographs ready, making sure you have a scent article stored both where the dog is staying and in another secure location. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If you go on vacation, your dog is roughly four times as likely to get lost. So, if you have taken all the necessary precautions, and your dog only has a 2% chance of going missing during your usual daily life, then he would have about an 8% chance of becoming lost while you were on vacation. If you have a difficult dog or a difficult situation, and your dog normally has a 25% chance of becoming lost during any given week, well, it’s a good bet he would get lost while you were on vacation. You would want him to be staying at a dog boarding facility that was a combination of a five star resort and a supermax prison. I’m sorry to sound so pessimistic about travel. Certainly there are people who travel all the time, and their pets have never gone missing. If you have a routine that is dialed in and working for you, and your pets have always been fine while you are gone, then keep doing what you are doing. However, I hope you will beef up some precautions, like GPS collars and scent articles. If you are travelling for the first time since a new dog joined your family, just be sure you have taken every precaution you can, and have a plan in place if you pet does go missing, as described below.
Transporting a Dog in Air Cargo
Don’t do it. If there’s any other way you can accommodate your dog, don’t put him in air cargo. Yes, hundreds of dogs are flown around the country every day, and nothing particularly bad happens to the majority of them. But a certain percentage of dogs get out of their carriers during transportation. We don’t know the actual numbers because the airlines won’t tell the public. Until the airline industry can give hard numbers, which could be independently verified, of how many dogs are lost during transport, I can’t recommend that anyone should put their dog in the cargo hold of a plane. According to one report, 29 pets simply died in air cargo during a ten month period. Estimates are that about 2 million pets are transported in air cargo every year, so the percentage of pets killed, lost, or stolen might be very small. However, you’re placing your dog in a situation where you have absolutely no control over anything that might happen. In the cases where I have knowledge of a pet being lost by an airlines, every attempt was made to keep information from the public. Until the airline industry can be transparent about losing dogs during transport, there is simply no way you could get me to put my family member in the cargo hold of a jet for hours.
If you do transport a dog by air cargo, for Pete’s sake, don’t open the carrier in the parking lot of the air cargo company. If your dog has traveled in air cargo, only open the carrier inside an enclosed space, like the interior of your car, or your garage or house.
Travel Around Town
During your dog’s daily life, going for a ride with you to the grocery store is probably going to be the time of day that he faces his highest risk of becoming lost. If you have a low risk dog, and you have taken all the precautions, then maybe it is still a relatively low risk activity for your dog. Some of the things you need to consider are accidents, theft, and, believe it or not, self-described Good Samaritans. Any time the temperature climbs above 60 degrees, Facebook is flooded with memes about dogs dying in hot cars. It’s true, you should be concerned about your dog overheating in your car. However, every year, this gets blown way out of proportion, and the Hot Car Crazies come out of the woodwork. I stop and get my mail at a post office box. At least three times a year, I will come out of the post office to find a gray-haired woman shouting at me that I’m killing my dogs. It’s a post office! How long do you think I was in there? And I’m not talking about the downtown post office where you might stand in line for twenty minutes. This is a little neighborhood post office where there would literally be no possible way you could spend more than three minutes in there, even if you took time to sort your junk mail into the recycle bin. Yes, overheating in cars is a danger, but the Hot Car Crazies are a bigger risk to your dog. They egg each other on, and sooner or later, they are going to break someone’s window even though the owner has only been gone five minutes. By the way, each time a woman has been standing by my car yelling at me, it has been under 65 degrees and I was away from my car less than two minutes.
Holidays
Holidays are peak times for dogs to escape. Routines are broken, strangers are coming and going at home, and loud fireworks at New Year’s and July 4th can cause a dog to flee in panic. Dogs should be kept behind two doors, such as the front door and a bedroom door, for safety on these high risk days. The holidays are also a time of travel, which brings its own risks, as mentioned above. Visitors should be made aware of dogs in the house, and informed of procedures they need to take. Some dogs are perfectly happy with the holiday hullabaloo, but don’t just assume that a dog will be okay with it if that dog is new to you. Certainly, you should have your equipment, precautions, and plans in place before a holiday.
Tino seems to be fine with guests and fireworks. Plus, I try to avoid the holidays as much as possible anyway.
Potential for Theft
Someone would have to be crazy to try to steal my dogs. Although, if little Fozzie was unattended in the yard, by himself, (which never, ever happens) I could see how someone who just happened to be walking by might be tempted to steal him. When people call me to report their dog missing and ask for help, they often suspect their dog was stolen, as in, deliberately taken from their house or yard. That has never turned out to be the case, that I’m aware of. I do know of one unusual case where two women deliberately stole a dog that was tied up outside of a bar. They thought the owner was careless and neglectful, and they stole her dog to teach her a lesson. One of the woman was caught with the dog in her home, 8 months later, after extensive detective work by volunteers. While theft does happen, the usual way it happens is that someone finds a dog and then simply keeps it, without trying to find the owner. This is theft, and it happens every day. Even some nonprofit dog rescues engage in this sort of theft. Their volunteers see a dog roaming, they declare the dog was abandoned, even though they have no proof of that, and they place the dog up for adoption with no effort to find the owner. The main way you protect your dog from being stolen is to make sure he never gets lost or roams unattended. You shouldn’t even leave your dog in your yard unattended. If you have some reason to worry that your dog might actually be targeted for theft by someone, then it would be prudent to install several surveillance cameras, and try not to leave the dogs alone if at all possible.
Potential Encounters with Dangerous Dogs
If an unknown dog runs up to your dog, it is usually best not to panic, and just let the dogs sniff each other. It can happen fast, and you might literally have less than a second to make a quick decision to pull your dog away, divert the approaching dog, pick up your dog, or use some other deterrent like pepper spray. When one dog came charging up out of nowhere, barking and snarling, toward my calm, happy dog, I kicked him under the rib cage before he reached my dog. This startled him and knocked him back, and he went yipping off toward his oblivious owner on the other side of the park. Another time, I misread a dog that was charging at Fozzie. I thought he was just excited and playful. Too late, I tried to intervene when I saw the dog was a little too intense. He bit Fozzie before I could grab him and pull him off. Now, if a dog is running up toward Fozzie, I scoop him up just to be on the safe side. I also carry pepper spray, although I haven’t had a need to use it in the six months that I’ve been carrying it. In general, I try to avoid situations where there is a possibility that a loose dog could run up unexpectedly. Because I use my dogs on searches, and we typically spend 3 or 4 hours moving through unfamiliar neighborhoods and terrain, I have to be alert to loose dogs approaching my working dogs. 95% of them are friendly, or at least not dangerous. I try to always be prepared to protect my dogs if needed.
If a loose dog and your dog end up getting into a fight, it is important that you take the right approach to break up this fight. If one of them latches onto your arm or hand, it will make it much harder to break it up. The key is to grab one or both dogs by the back legs, lift them off the ground, and pull back. Don’t stop pulling until the dog you have hold of is on the other side of some barrier, like a fence. If you have pepper spray, that may break up the fight. Most of the time, when two dogs appear to be fighting, the look like they are ripping each other to shreds but when you get them apart, neither dog has a mark on him. It can be hard to tell the difference between a real, damaging fight, and a posturing, display fight.
Attacks by loose dogs can often lead to your dog becoming lost when he tries to escape the charging dog, and he backs out of his collar. Try to think about how you would respond to a dog charging at you, and have a plan that is appropriate for your dog’s size and personality. When I meet your dog, I may have suggestions on the best way to deal with this situation.
Tino is 69 pounds at 7 months old. He is already big, and he’s bound to get bigger. He is a steady, smart dog, and he is not afraid of much. Neither is he aggressive, although he might seem aggressive when he barks at dogs, even though he really just wants to play. He has been wrestling and play fighting with my big dogs since he was two months old. If he was truly attacked by a dog, I’m guessing that my biggest worry would be that I would have a full blown dog fight on my hands. How would I protect him from a charging dog? First, I would try to read if the charging dog just wants to check Tino out and maybe play, or if he really intends harm. It’s a tough call, and you usually just have a second or two to decide. I have practiced getting my pepper spray out of its holster quickly, and having it ready to spray, so this motion is instinctive, and I don’t have to think about it.
Regarding circumstantial dangers, I think Tino is fairly well protected. He is almost never alone. Actually, I don’t think he has spent one minute without a human nearby in his entire life. I take precautions to avoid potentially dangerous situations, and I am alert and aware. I give Tino 5 of 5 stars as far as being protected from circumstantial dangers.
Have an Escape Plan
By that I mean that you should already have thought out what you would do if your dog did escape. This could involve tracking him by GPS, looking in the places he is likely to go, mobilizing the troops to go look, or asking for professional help. Before your dog ever runs off, please have it set in your mind that you WILL NOT CHASE him. It’s an instinctive thing to do, and it can be really hard to stop yourself from chasing after a lost or stray dog. Fix it in your mind, right now, that you won’t chase your lost dog. Instead, stay calm, talk to him in a calm voice, and try to lure him with things he likes. For example, pretend you have a treat in your pocket. If he likes to fetch, bend down and pick up a stick, or pretend to. Perhaps you might even try running away from him, and get him to chase. Whatever you do, chasing him will not work. In the few instances where chasing a dog has worked, the chaser got lucky because the dog ran into a fence yard or some other trap. 99% of the time, chasing a dog just makes matters much worse.
Also, if your dog has been lost for more than a few minutes, you must not call his name. Instead, you should just talk in a normal tone of voice. For other things you should do if your dog is missing, please see this free guide on finding lost dogs. In fact, I would be delighted if you would read the entire thing before your dog goes missing, just so you will be prepared. As outlined earlier in this article, before your dog goes missing, you will have taken precautions, such as having a scent article in the freezer, and having appropriate photographs ready to share. Think about your dog’s personality and how he would likely behave if lost, and prepare your plan based on likely scenarios. Because I knew Fozzie was an escape artist when he was young, I made sure to have a reliable GPS tracker on his collar, and it helped me track him down quickly. What is my plan if Tino goes missing? Well, I think it is highly unlikely, but if he did go missing, I have a search dog, Fozzie, prepared to track him from the scent article stored in the freezer. I also have pictures ready. Tino also has a fan club on Facebook, so if he was truly missing, I imagine a small army would be ready to go look for him. If he was truly lost, I could make one or two phone calls, and I could be pretty sure that a trusted friend would be on top of coordinating volunteer efforts for me as I got Fozzie started on the scent trail. I would also have someone stationed at home, because chances are he would circle back toward home very soon, and probably be at the front door before Fozzie and I got very far on the scent trail.
In conclusion, you can best protect your dog from becoming lost by being aware of the ways it might happen, taking precautions to prevent the common escape methods, and being prepared to respond if your dog is truly lost. By knowing your dog’s habits, personality, and environment, you can focus your prevention efforts on the most likely risks. Below, as an example, I have given assessment reports for Tino at age 7 months and for Viktor when I first trapped him and brought him home.
Loss Risk Assessment Report for Tino
Valentino is a solid, stable young dog, 7 months old. He has lived in the same house all his life and known only one owner. Tino has a great bond with his human family, and an even closer bond with the four other dogs he lives with. Tino’s behavioral problems are minor and correctable. He has responded well to training. A few ways Tino’s protection against loss could be improved would be:
Tino’s risk of loss and recovery, before and after implementing suggestions: The possibility of Tino escaping or becoming lost is very low, but not zero. This is not a scientific formula, but it is my best estimate, based on a review of Tino’s personality, habits, environment, caretakers, and the precautions in place. In the coming year, Tino would have approximately a 7% chance of becoming lost once in 365 days. His odds of being found would be close to 100%. Only in a very unusual and hard-to-foresee circumstance would Tino ever be lost and not recovered. After implementing the recommendations above, Tino’s odds of becoming lost would shrink to about 2% per year, and his odds of being found would be as close as possible to 100%, given the multiple pathways to recovery, including GPS, tags, microchip, social media, search dogs, etc.
Loss Risk Assessment Report for Viktor. (Note: I am writing this report as though the evaluation is being done in the first week I had him, before he actually broke out of the house.)
Viktor is about five years old. He came from a shelter in California, where he lived in a kennel for six months before being transported to Washington. On his second day in Seattle, he took advantage of the first opportunity and bolted from an adoption event at a pet store. The rescue that transported him to Washington made little or no effort to recover him. Viktor was seen wandering over a five week period, during which he traveled 20 miles. He was eventually captured by a nonprofit rescue that specializes in helping stray dogs. Viktor prefers not to be touched, although he tolerates it. He is highly food motivated. He seems to like having people around, but not too close. He sometimes limps, probably indicating an old injury, probably due to being hit by a car. Viktor is currently being fostered in a house with a trained expert on dog escapes and recovery, so even though the odds of Viktor escaping would be pretty much 100% if no precautions were taken, the foster has taken multiple precautions, and the odds of escape are greatly reduced, but not zero. The odds of recovering Viktor are harder to predict. The precautions taken, including storing a scent article, multiple ID tags, microchip, and a GPS tracker are sensible precautions. However, given that Viktor was caught in a humane trap once, it seems unlikely that he would go in the humane trap a second time. Also, the GPS unit doesn’t seem to be functioning properly at this time, so it should be a priority to get that fixed.
Suggested improvements for Viktor’s loss prevention strategy include:
With those improvements, if Viktor eventually became bonded to a person and comfortable in a home, his desire to escape could be reduced from its current level of 100%. How low that desire could be reduced is hard to predict, with how little is known about him and his history. Escape prevention will continue to be the key with Viktor. The only way I could envision reducing the odds of escape to near zero would be to have a large yard with a double fence (a fence within a fence) ten feet high, with a concrete foundation wall, and cameras to watch him. If ever there was a dog that ought to have a GPS tracking unit, it is Viktor. Regarding the chances of getting Viktor back, I would put the odds at 75%. Viktor would be determined to avoid capture, but his foster would be equally determined to get him, one way or another.
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In the above report, I don’t mention the cat door. He eventually escaped through this cat door, which I did not think was possible. A, it didn’t appear big enough for him to squeeze through. I’m still amazed he got through it. B, it was boarded up, and it was blocked by objects stacked in front of it, so he shouldn’t even have know the cat door existed. I’m guessing he must have smelled air leaking through. So, even if I had done a deliberate, methodical assessment like this, I might have missed that possibility of escape. Regarding the GPS unit, I was on the phone with the provider several times, for hours, trying to get the unit working. To this day, I still don’t know why it didn’t work. They said it checked out okay on their end, but it just wasn’t communicating like it should. In hindsight, I should have just gone and purchased another brand of GPS and put it on him immediately. Viktor did escape, and he was a little hard to find and very hard to catch. Pictures I took before he escaped were very helpful, and the harness he was wearing made him easy to identify. The search dog was not successful tracking him because it appears Viktor made a loop several times before striking out in a northerly direction. The search dog kept looping back to the point of escape. Although the foster, me, didn’t have a specific plan in place for finding Viktor if he escaped, because I had been finding lost dogs for years, and written books on the subject, I definitely had a general plan for finding him and implemented it right away. It took a week, and 100 hours of my time to find and catch him. Volunteers and friends also invested their time, probably more than 200 hours total. Now, 18 months after Viktor was captured, escaped, and captured again, his odds of escaping are greatly reduced. Although I won’t test this theory, I think that if I accidentally dropped Viktor’s leash while we were on a walk, he would probably just go home, to be fed. I am still vigilant with the precautions. Viktor doesn’t exactly show affection toward me, but he seems to have grown accustomed to me, and he definitely likes his routines. As stated earlier, Viktor seems most attached to the puppy, Tino, although he still acts grumpy.
To schedule a Loss Prevention Assessment, please email [email protected] or call 206-552-0304.
The most effective time to help a lost dog is before he goes missing.
(I would very much like every dog owner to read all 27 pages that follow. Lives could be saved if every dog family was fully aware of the steps you can take to prevent a loss or ensure that you will find your lost dog. I realize it is unlikely that most people will read the whole thing. If you can't take the time to read this right now, please watch this two-minute video for some basics on preventing your dog from becoming lost. It features a ridiculously cute puppy. For a brief guide on preventing your dog from becoming lost, with more details than the video but less info than this article on the Loss Prevention Assessment, please see this page. )
Over the years of working to help people find their lost pets, I have always been trying to think of ideas, techniques, equipment, or procedures that would improve the chances of finding a lost dog. One piece of equipment I would like is a drone that automatically flies itself, in any weather, and has high resolution cameras and infrared cameras that actually work like those ones you see in movies. It would be nice if this drone had a five hour battery life. It would also be nice if I could actually afford it. But there are things that could be done right now to help lost dogs better than any future invention. In every investigation of a lost dog, I have concluded that the best time to help a lost dog is before he goes missing. Modifying your diet earlier in life is easier than living with diabetes later. Getting your brake pads replaced on time is cheaper than paying for new rotors. Taking simple, easy precautions will greatly reduce your chances of losing your dog, and increase your odds of finding him if he is lost. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially in the case of a lost family member such as your dog. If my mission is to help lost dogs, I can do the most good by educating people on prevention.
Losing your dog is a horrible experience, and for the most part, it is avoidable. Since 2008, I have helped search for over 2,200 lost dogs, either using a search dog or providing advice. In the majority of those cases, I learned about the circumstances and events leading up to the escape, in order to improve the odds of finding a lost dog. There may be completely unforeseeable events that would cause your dog to become lost, such as a natural disaster, but in most cases, I could have predicted that a dog was at high risk of escape before an escape occurred. An example of the type of dog that escapes frequently and predictably is that rescue dog who has been brought into the state from a crowded, high-kill shelter in another state. This dog was probably wandering lost before he ended up at that distant shelter. He likely has a history of escape, and he is being moved to unfamiliar surroundings, with people he doesn’t know. He is on edge, and will likely bolt the first time someone accidentally drops his leash. In nine years of helping lost dogs, I have learned what risk factors preceded the escape of a dog. A dog’s circumstances, history, personality, protective measures, and environment are factors that can help predict whether a particular dog is at risk of becoming lost, and also how quickly that dog would be found. For any dog, and especially for dogs at higher risk of escape, an owner or guardian can identify factors that predict escapes, take measures to prevent an escape, and also prepare to recover a dog quickly if he becomes lost in spite of these precautions.
A proper assessment involves an interview with the dog’s primary caretaker, and other caretakers, if possible. Meeting the dog may reveal risk factors and opportunities for prevention. A full assessment includes checking the environment, including living arrangements, yard security, and even the neighborhood. I set out to write a brief guide to loss prevention, and everything I wanted to say on this subject has turned out to be rather longer than I might expect to retain the attention of the average reader. And it’s only this brief because I left out the details of various options and events that could happen with every type of dog and every kind of family. To give a proper prevention assessment, I really need to learn about a dog and his family, and tailor the advice accordingly. Once an evaluation is complete, we can immediately take certain measures to reduce risks, and also prepare a plan for a rapid recovery in case of an escape. Below are the main factors we will evaluate, and the key loss prevention tasks. To schedule a Loss Prevention Assessment, please email [email protected] or call 206-552-0304.
Personality of the dog
- Reactivity in general
- Bond
- Strange people
- Strange dogs
- Wildlife
- Quirky triggers
- Standard routine
- Persistent undesirable behaviors.
- Useful desirable behaviors
- Safety hazards
- Theft hazards
- Escape hazards
- Basic health hazards
- Collars
- Tags
- Microchip
- Leashes
- Harness
- Lights
- GPS tracker
- Scent article
- Recall command
- Update records with chip company and vet
- Lost flier shot
- Clear pictures of identifying features.
- Glamour shots
- Happy pictures.
- Video
- Watching for family
- Investment
- Equal Family Member
- Out of area travel
- Transporting a dog in air cargo
- Travel around town
- Holidays
- Potential for theft
- Potential encounters with dangerous dogs.
- Don't chase
- Have resources lined up so you can activate them quickly.
- Calming signals
- Set aside an emergency fund in case you need to take time off work to search for your dog.
When I have needed to bring my search dog out to follow the scent trail of a lost dog, I have usually charged $250, and most searches lasted 3 or 4 hours. This consultation, designed to prevent a loss, should take less than two hours. The fee for this consultation is $150. If you have received this consultation and advice, and then your dog becomes lost in spite of these precautions, I will give you a Lost Pet Consultation, by phone and/or email, for up to one hour, at no charge. I will also bring my search dog out and conduct a standard search for your lost dog for $75 instead of the usual $250. (There are some limitations and restrictions to this offer. We are usually unable to travel out of state for searches. In most cases, I probably wouldn’t recommend a search dog before 24 hours since the escape, or after the dog has been lost, with no current sightings, for more than 72 hours. Although I plan to continue offering my services to search for lost pets for at least another 10 years, there may be circumstances beyond my control that would prevent me from doing a search, such as the unexpected loss of a search dog, or if I was physically unable to conduct a search due to health or injury.)
At the end of this consultation, you will receive:
- An electronic copy of this guide
- A written evaluation with recommendations.
- Photos, delivered by email or other suitable conveyance.
- A video you can share, and a video to save in case it is needed later.
- Two scent articles, one to store in your freezer and one to be stored by a friend, neighbor, or relative.
- A paperback copy of A Voice for the Lost, a book I’ve written about finding lost pets.
One third of all pets go missing at some point in their lives. Of those that go missing, over 70% are found, if their families take the right steps to find them. A Loss Prevention Assessment is another vital precaution you should take to protect your family member, just like you take him for annual checkups, you get vaccines and licenses, and perhaps you buy health insurance. This Loss Prevention Assessment is a practical measure that can save you the heartache of losing your dog, but it can also save you from the time and expense of looking for your lost dog. When I lost my dog, Viktor, I spent over 100 hours of my time looking for him over a 7 day period, and I lost any income I might have received during that week. I probably spent several hundred dollars on gas and posters and other supplies. Of course, the agony of knowing he was out there, sleeping in a ditch at night, crossing busy streets, drinking from gutters, eating who know what, was all much worse than the expense and the loss of income. Viktor escaped because of a series of flukes, which were preventable in hindsight. Any investment of time or resources that would have prevented his escape would definitely have been worthwhile. If you take the time to conduct this Loss Prevention Assessment, and follow the recommendations, you can greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the risk that your dog might someday become lost.
Please note that I can also offer a Loss Prevention Assessment for a business, such as a dog daycare or a grooming salon. Others that might benefit from an assessment include rescue organizations, individual fosters or transporters, veterinary offices, and other dog related businesses. I am also prepared to give a talk on loss prevention to schools and organizations.
This guide is intended to accompany your individual assessment, and also serve as an example. Tino will be our guinea pig. Valentino’s mother was a stray dog that I helped capture, and we were unable to reunite her with her family. Valentino was born a short time later, and he is now 7 months old. He is training to become a search dog. Tino is a low risk for escape, because of his personality and because of precautions I have taken. Also, if lost somehow, he would likely be recovered quickly, since his dad finds lost pets as a profession. Tino will still be a good example to demonstrate the principles of prevention.
Personality Assessment
Tino has personality coming out his ears! Regarding loss prevention, we will look at personality as it affects the potential for escape and ease of recovery. How reactive is Tino? By this I mean, is he easily startled? Does he become angry around strange dogs? Or does he want to play with them? Does he have particular fears?
Tino is probably different than the average dog in the respect that I have known him since the hour of his birth. I have observed him almost every waking moment of his life. This probably wouldn’t be the case for most dogs, and in the case of a newly adopted dog, you typically know nothing at all about his history. From experience and from testing, I know that Tino is alert and aware of changes in his environment, loud noises, strangers, or even different smells. How he reacts varies with circumstances. If he is around Sky, my dog who lived in a cemetery for four months, he will probably join in with her when she barks at pretty much anything that moves outside. If I am walking with him through town, he is aware but calm. He barks at other dogs because he thinks that’s the right way to play, not because he has any intention of harming them, or fear of them. Tino is a solid dog, temperamentally, and while I would classify him as moderately reactive, it’s not in a negative way. His reactivity does not seem to be a factor that would increase his chances of becoming lost.
For reactivity, as it relates to loss prevention, I would give Tino 4 of 5 stars. Because he is seven months old, I assume that rating will improve.
The Human-Animal Bond
The Human-Animal Bond is one of the biggest predictors of whether a dog would become lost, and how quickly that dog might be recovered. This bond involves both your attachment to your dog and your dog’s attachment to you. How do you value your dog? What are your interactions like? Does your dog frequently make eye contact with you? Does your dog always want to be near you? I am madly in love with Tino, of course, because who wouldn’t be? Tino also loves me, but he is more attached to my dog Komu, I think, than he is to me. Tino loves all four of my other dogs, Komu, Fozzie, Sky, and Viktor. Tino always wants to be near me, but he really wants to be around the dogs. When we have been outside, just Tino and me, when we come back in, Tino has to do an inventory of all the dogs and make sure each one is where he or she is expected to be. Also, some dogs are really attached to their owners in the sense of looking to the human for direction. These dogs don’t do anything without checking in with their owner first. This is great for loss prevention. In Tino’s case, because he is training to become a search dog, I have encouraged him to have an independent mind. I like for him to explore and be curious when we go for a walk, and he is not required to heal or to pay too much attention to me. A great search dog can be difficult to live with in some respects. So, I would say that Tino and I have an excellent Human-Animal Bond, but in some ways perhaps not as strong as some other dog-human pairs. Our bond is certainly strong, and adequate for loss prevention. If Tino were lost, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to get him back.
In contrast, my dog Viktor is not particularly bonded to me. He was a stray, and he roamed the streets for five weeks before I and other volunteers caught him the first time. Then, after he was at my house for a week, he broke out, and was lost for another week before I finally caught him again. Viktor does not want to hang out with me. It’s almost like he is my prisoner, or perhaps like I am his butler. I love him to pieces, but he is indifferent to me unless I have food. I always want to just pick him up and hug him, but I don’t because I know that would trigger a full blown panic attack in him. If I were to drop his leash while we were out on a walk, it is very unlikely that he would return to me voluntarily. At best, I might hope that he would stop running and allow me to grab his leash. I am very careful not to drop his leash. Viktor is begrudgingly fond of Tino. He knew him since Tino was a tiny puppy, and now that Tino is a giant, Viktor is very tolerant of him, where he would not tolerate such behavior from the other dogs. If Viktor became lost, I would have a better chance of luring him with Tino, than hoping for him to come to me. Viktor definitely has a sense of home, and I’m betting that if I dropped his leash while we were out on a walk, he would simply go home. I have been and always will work on getting Viktor to like me more, but I am prepared that he may always be indifferent to me. That’s okay, as long as he is safe. I’m glad he at least has a secret fondness for Tino. And Tino absolutely loves Victor. Tino is being trained to find lost dogs in particular, and if Viktor was ever lost, Tino would track him down quickly, I’m sure.
For the Human-Animal Bond, I will give Tino two ratings. His bond to me is 4 of 5 stars. My bond to him is 11 of 5 stars.
Strange People
What does Tino think of strange people? If he sees an unfamiliar woman, he will most likely walk up to her and see if she has any treats. If he sees a strange man, he will usually just watch, and not advance or move away. I don’t actually know what he would do if he wasn’t with me, because he has never not been with me in his life. I have known dogs that were ridiculously happy to meet any human. This is not necessarily a good thing in terms of loss prevention. Those really happy, friendly dogs may be kept by people who find them, which appears to happen in many cases. Tino is alert and aware of people, and he is not afraid or aggressive. While I certainly intend to work on this, since he is only seven months old, I would say that Tino has a really good attitude toward strangers, from the standpoint of loss prevention. Tino is thoughtful. I think he would not run away from a stranger, but not necessarily walk off with the first person he saw. Tino is highly, highly food motivated, though, and he would likely be best friends with a serial killer if said killer had a cheeseburger. Or even a photograph of a cheeseburger. Fozzie, the little white poodle, is perhaps a little too friendly with strangers. That, combined with his being tiny and cute, could make him a higher risk for being taken, if other precautions weren’t taken. Compared to Fozzie, Tino’s approach to people is better in terms of loss prevention. Sky, the Rottweiler/Shar Pei mix who lived as a feral dog for four months, is deathly afraid of strangers. Sky is very bonded to me, and to my dogs and family, but any encounter with a stranger would push her farther away. No one is going to steal Sky, but her aversion to people could make her harder to catch if she were lost.
For reactions to Strange People, I give Tino 5 of 5 stars.
Strange Dogs
Tino is very interested in all dogs. He often barks, but sometimes he doesn’t. It depends on the signals he is getting. I don’t think he would ever be aggressive toward another dog, but he is young, so it’s possible his attitude could change. If Tino were lost, and I wasn’t available, I think it is very likely he would allow himself to be lured by another dog. If it was a friendly dog, he would most likely want to play. If a dog came at him aggressively, I don’t think Tino would understand. He plays really hard with Komu and Sky, and aggression might just look like play to him. I can’t give Tino a solid rating regarding reactions to strange dogs, because we haven’t met all types yet. Plus, he isn’t neutered yet, although he will be at about 11 months of age. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I would rate him 5 of 5.
Wildlife
If Sky sees a duck, she goes absolutely crazy. She broke away from me once, when she saw a pair of ducks, and it was quite an ordeal getting her back under control. Tino is curious about the wildlife he has seen, but he’s only seen squirrels, crows, and songbirds. Some dogs like to chase rabbits or deer. Coyotes will sometimes flirt with a dog, to get him to chase. I know some people who allow and encourage their dogs to chase wildlife, figuring it is good exercise and harmless. Even if chasing wildlife usually doesn’t cause any harm, I strongly discourage it because it can lead to a dog becoming lost or hit by a car. Tino does not have any instinct to chase wildlife so far. A squirrel ran in front of us, and I dropped Tino’s leash in an area where it was safe to do so. Tino casually watched the squirrel, and then he looked back at me, wondering why I dropped the leash. 5 of 5 stars.
Quirky Triggers
I was hired to search for a mini dachshund who panicked and ran when she saw a red balloon in the middle of a forest. She was fine walking off leash in a variety of settings, but when she saw that balloon, she freaked out and ran. It took almost a week to catch her. I don’t know of any triggers that might make Tino run away. So far, he gets 5 of 5 on this, but I will have to continue to evaluate this.
Dog Behaviors
While behaviour and personality are obviously related, they are not the same thing. Both Tino and Viktor have the behavior of not chasing wildlife, or even wanting to. Tino’s personality couldn’t be more different than Viktor’s. Tino is playful and happy and joyous, while Viktor is grumpy and aloof. Behaviors may also be guided by constraints more than personality. I wouldn’t let either Viktor or Tino off leash to chase wildlife, even if they wanted to.
Routines.
Routines are important in a dog’s life, and most dogs, certainly every dog I’ve ever known, likes things done in a certain routine. If there are grand adventures, that can be good, too, but dogs like their routines even during adventures. Dogs often prefer things are done in a certain way. If your dog is new to you, establishing a routine is one of your primary goals. You should be doubly alert to opportunities for escape until your routines are clearly established. Routines can be daily and weekly. Around our house, everyone knows when it is Sunday. That’s training day, the best day of the week, and the three dogs who are training in search work go crazy when we load up the car. If visitors come on a routine schedule, than can be easier for dog to accept without anxiety. Routines can also be used to help capture a dog who has gone missing. One particularly skittish dog was located, but we couldn’t capture her, due to her lack of socialization. We established a routine with her, where she was fed at the same time every night, and that really helped us develop a strategy to catch her. Definitely do try to establish a routine with your dog, and also be aware of what it is you do every day. It can help you identify moments in the day where escapes are more likely, and routines can help you catch your dog if lost. Tino now has a well-established routine. He expects certain treats at certain times. He has a schedule that only varies slightly from day to day. Like Komu and Fozzie, Tino has definitely learned that Sunday is the fun day, when we go to the park and train with the other dogs. 5 of 5.
Persistent Undesirable Behaviors
I can think of two in particular with Tino. Bad behaviors might be important because they could weaken your human-animal bond, making your dog less bound to you, and making you perhaps less motivated to prevent a loss or make every effort to recover your dog. Tino’s undesirable behaviors don’t weaken our bond either way, but they sure can be annoying, and a little dangerous perhaps. One thing he does is simply to explode with enthusiasm while we are out on a walk. He can start out behind me and run as fast as he can to the end of the leash. I keep him on a harness, because I don’t want to exert too much pressure on his neck. Tino thinks it’s fun to sprint and hit the end of the leash so hard it lifts him off his feet. I’m a large person, 6’3” and over 230 pounds, but Tino is getting to be a big dog, and very strong. It is physically painful when he yanks on my arms that hard. When I’m not paying 100% attention, he can really whip me around and almost knock me down. One time, he spun me around so fast that my glasses flew off. I know of training exercises I could do to stop the pulling, but my dilemma is that, as a search dog, he is actually supposed to pull, so I don’t want to train him to never pull. I haven’t yet figured out a strategy to solve this problem. I’m hoping he will be slightly less crazy when he gets older. Also, I’m hoping that doing search work will focus his energies, so he has an outlet for that pulling urge, and he doesn’t need to randomly lunge. We’ll see. The other undesirable behavior is that he often nips my fingers when getting treats. I have strategies to avoid this. He is always hungry, and the nipping is understandable. He certainly doesn’t intend to hurt anyone.
Undesirable behaviors can be much worse, to the point of being unsanitary or dangerous. Many dogs who end up in the shelter are ones whose behaviors became too much for a family, and they either took their dog to the shelter, or simply didn’t bother looking for their dog when he was lost. Certainly, a dog is easier to live when there aren’t these sources of conflict. Entrenched behaviors may need the intervention of a trainer knowledgeable in behavior management and modification (which I am not). Such training would undoubtedly require effort and consistency on the part of the owner. Dogs who come from rescue, and sometimes even puppies from the pet store or purebred champion dogs, can come into a new family with unsanitary or unsafe behaviors. If you are getting a new dog, please take the time to learn his personality and behaviors, and try not to buy or adopt a dog who is going to overwhelm you. Of course, I want everyone to adopt a dog, until the shelters are empty, but you aren’t doing the dog any favors if you are both going to be miserable and you aren’t going to be able to manage the dog safely.
Even though Tino has a couple of problem behaviors, they don’t increase his chances of becoming lost, or reduce his chances of being found. He gets 5 of 5 regarding undesirable behaviors, even though he is far from perfect.
Useful Desirable Behaviors
Tino has many great habits. Chief among these his that he is highly food motivated. He would do anything for food. This might be bad if a stranger was trying to lure him away with food, but it is very useful for training him. Tino is also well house-trained, which I reinforce with praise at every opportunity. Another great behavior is that he is pretty solid on his recall command, meaning that he comes to me when called, usually. There are times when he feels mischievous, and may stay away a little. In these instances, I can get him to come to me immediately by picking up a stick. He runs right to me and tries to get whatever stick I have, even if he already has a stick in his mouth at the moment. If I couldn’t find a stick, pretty much picking up any object off the ground brings him right over. That’s not something I trained him to do specifically, but it is a very handy and useful behavior. As he gets older, we will continue to encourage such useful behaviors. Also, we do work on a bit of obedience training, such as sit, stay, and come. Because he is going to be a working dog, I actually don’t want him overly obedient. When we are out on searches, he needs to be following his nose because he is naturally curious and intrinsically motivated, not because I told him to. For most dogs, who don’t need to be independent and slightly crazy for their work, I would recommend more obedience. You don’t want to have a little robot, but obedience can be fun for the dog and make the owner’s life much easier.
I give Tino 5 of 5 on Useful Desirable Behaviors, in relation to loss prevention, even though he is not perfect.
Desirable and undesirable behaviors can take so many forms that I wouldn’t attempt to list them before an assessment. Also, one person’s undesirable can be perfectly acceptable to another person. During a Loss Prevention Assessment, I would observe a dog in different situations, and interview his family in order to learn a dog’s behaviors, and then I would discuss them as they relate to loss prevention. I don’t have a fixed idea of how a dog should behave, or what is acceptable behavior. You may have a dog that you are absolutely certain would attack a stranger if the opportunity arose. Of course I wouldn’t condone that if that’s what you intentionally trained the dog to do, but neither would I condemn a dog if this behavior persisted in spite of training efforts to calm the dog. In the right situation, you can live happily ever after with a dog that is not fit to be out in public. It just takes a little more work. The key to loss prevention is to modify behaviors if you can, but also to understand and manage behaviors that are difficult to correct. There are no bad dogs. A dog might misbehave because of upbringing, or unfortunate circumstances, or because of pain from a health problem. It certainly isn’t the dog’s fault if he has behaviors that don’t fit in with society. Whatever your dog’s quirks, steps can be taken to prevent escapes or to speed the recovery.
Safety Hazards
Certainly it is important to consider safety hazards for the general health and protection of your dog, but what does that have to do with loss prevention? Injuries and illness can be triggers for escapes. Also, vet visits are situations where the escape risk is higher, usually. Tino liked to chew on electrical wires when he was very young, which could be quite dangerous. His environment needed to be controlled for that, and also, Tino just wasn’t allowed to roam the house without supervision. From the age of about two months to six months, I kept him on a leash inside the house almost all the time, and put him in the crate when I couldn’t keep him on a leash. He has been a big, boisterous puppy, and trouble finds him everywhere he goes, it seems. My older dogs have not shown any signs of creating safety hazards with their behavior, so I trust them when they are out of my sight.
The most common safety hazards for dogs include ingesting something that is toxic or causes a blockage, bites and scrapes from interactions with other dogs, and being hit by a car. First off, if your dog has access to the street, I’m always going to recommend that your dog should be contained within a fenced yard or kept on a leash. I know of many dogs who are allowed to roam freely around their houses, and they may go years without an accident. Being exposed to a slight risk on a daily basis can catch up with you, and your dog will live a longer, healthier life if you minimize or eliminate this risk. Dogs can play rough, and things get carried away, so bites and scrapes are not unusual. I try to reduce the risk of injury from play by encouraging them to play with toys instead of just grabbing each other. Another high safety risk is riding in the car. Just as cars create the biggest safety hazard in a human’s life, all those dangers affect dogs just as much. Ideally, you should keep your dogs crated or restrained while driving. A loose dog can create a distraction for a driver and cause an accident. We don’t have a fenced yard, so my dogs are almost always on leashes. We live on a quiet one way street where the speed limit is 10 miles an hour, so Tino is not at a high risk of being hit even if he gets off his leash. One place I could really improve my dogs’ safety would be to crate them and restrain them while driving.
Sadly, Tino only gets 3 of 5 stars for Safety Hazards because I am not consistent with restraining him in the car.
Theft Hazards
Theft, in the sense of a career criminal targeting your specific dog for theft, is uncommon. Most dog theft arises out of opportunity, such as when someone finds a dog and does not intend to return it to the owner. This is also theft, plain and simple, and this type of theft is fairly common. So, loss prevention is really a way of reducing your dog’s exposure to the possibility of theft, by making sure he is never roaming loose. Other ways of reducing the risk of theft include: not leaving your dog in your car unattended, as much as possible; not leaving your dog tied up outside a cafe while you run in for a moment; not leaving your dog unattended in your own yard if the general public has free access to your fenceline; and reducing the chances of someone breaking into your home. It is unlikely that someone would break into your house specifically to steal your dog, unless it was someone with a personal vendetta. When someone does break into your house for another motive, there is a risk that your dog could simply escape, or that the thief could steal your dog, as long as he is there taking stuff. I recommend cameras inside and outside your house for a variety of benefits. They can just help you keep an eye on your dogs while you are gone, and be sure they are safe. Also, cameras can deter theft, and they can provide evidence and clues if a thief does take or release your dog. Cameras can also be useful if your dog is lost because they can tell you if your dog came home while you were out looking for him. The kind of camera I would get is connected to your Wifi and sends you an alert when there is movement. In the 17 years that I have had dogs, no one has been crazy enough to break into a house where I lived. Also, since I have dogs, I can’t have nice things, so there’s nothing of value to a thief. The only way I could see much chance of Tino being stolen would be if he was wandering loose, and someone lured him with food. He is beautiful and sweet, and I could see that many people would have trouble parting with him. My phone number is embroidered on his collar, so hopefully someone would call me right away, before they got attached to him.
4 of 5 stars for theft hazard.
Escape Hazards
Never give your dog a bath! Just kidding. But in many instances, people have told me their dog is lost without his collar because they just gave him a bath. I suspect that most of the people who tell me this are fibbing. They feel embarrassed that their lost dog is wandering without a collar, and they use the excuse that they took it off for a bath just before the dog escaped. Either way, go ahead and give your dog a bath, but leave his collar on while you do it. You can wash the collar at the same time. Here are the most common ways dogs escape, ranked in approximate order of frequency:
- Door or gate accidently left open by a family member or a visitor.
- The dog backed out of his collar while on a walk, because of being startled by a noise or attacked by a dog.
- The dog took advantage of an opportunity to bolt because he was newly rescued and unsettled. These dogs bolt through a door, back out of a collar, or run off with the leash attached.
- Broken or rotted board in the fence.
- Jumped out of the car when the door was opened, before the dog could be leashed.
- Wind storm smashed the fence.
- Simply wandered away from unfenced yard, when the dog normally stays close.
- Dog out hiking with the owner, off-leash, and disappeared.
- Car accident.
- Dog escaped from the car when someone broke into it.
- Escaped from a house that was broken into.
The means of escape listed above can happen whether the dog is at home with family, or away from home, with a designated caretaker. If the dog is away from home, the risk of any one of these escape methods is about quadrupled from normal. This is probably because the dog can be anxious in an unfamiliar environment, and because the alternate caretakers are not 100% familiar and confident with this dog. During an assessment, I would look for these points of potential escape around the home, but I would also try to expose escape hazards by interviewing the owner about common practices for the dog. Tino’s friend Fozzie, the little white dog, used to be an escape artist when he was younger. After the first time he bolted out a door past me, I put a GPS tracker on him. After that, he bolted about 7 more times, and I used the GPS unit to track him down quickly, within 5 minutes. Without the GPS, I would have no way of knowing which way he turned, and finding him would have taken longer. Tino, on the other hand, would not try to escape even if there was an opportunity. If he did walk out a door that blew open, he would just come right back in, to be with his dog buddies. Tino might follow one of the other dogs out, but he would also follow that dog back in fairly soon.
Tino’s environment rates 4 of 5 stars for escape risk. It could be improved with surveillance cameras and a fence.
Basic Health Hazards
Of course, your dog’s health is important anyway, but it matters for loss prevention in the sense that injuries or illnesses can cause a dog to run off in panic, or to hide because he’s not feeling well. Both situations can increase the risk of loss. A long time ago, before I had any of my current five dogs, I gave one of my three dogs a grape, and I thought it was funny that a dog would eat a grape. Then I wanted to see if the other two would eat grapes, and before long, they had finished off a bunch of grapes. It was cute to watch them eat them so carefully. Only after feeding each dog about ten grapes did it occur to me that grapes might not be good for dogs. I googled it, and of course I now know that grapes are poisonous to dogs, so off to the emergency room we went. On another occasion, my dog Tess ate half a bag of chocolates, including the foil wrappers. The vet said it would not be enough chocolate to make her sick, given her body weight, so I should just keep an eye on her. Some dogs have gotten sick or died from eating mushrooms. While we were on a search, Komu may or may not have eaten some rat poison that was placed improperly beside a deck, so I had to rush him to the emergency vet, for $500 of treatment, just to be on the safe side. Things disappear into a dog’s mouth so quickly that it’s hard to know what they have eaten sometimes. There may be other safety hazards around a house, especially during remodeling or construction. A survey of the house and yard, and a review of habits and practices, can uncover previously unknown hazards.
Tino’s environment and practices rate 5 of 5 stars for safety hazards, mostly because I’ve learned from my mistakes with previous dogs.
Equipment
Collars
First, just keeping a collar on your dog is a great first step. Many people take their dogs’ collars off because they are concerned about a safety hazard if the collar is caught on some object or if the dog gets himself entangled with the collar some how. In seventeen years of dog ownership, my dogs have worn their collars 24/7, and we have had no incidents. It is true that some dogs have died because their collars were snagged somehow. Although this is tragic, the number of deaths from collar accidents is insignificant compared to the risks you expose your dog to if he ends up roaming without a collar and ID. More dogs die from suffocating with their snouts in potato chip bags than die from getting their collars caught. If your dog has a particular habit or circumstance where the risk from a collar is higher, then switch to a breakaway collar, or a harness instead. Having a collar with some sort of ID is the most essential precaution you can take against loss. Every day, a dozen new dogs end up in area shelters, probably 50,000 dogs each day in the entire US. All of those thousands of dogs would be home already if they simply had collars with ID.
There are many types of collars you can get. I prefer collars with my phone number embroidered in the fabric. That way, my number is visible from several feet away, and someone would be able to call me about my lost dog even if they were unable to actually put a leash on him. Also, with the number embroidered, you don’t need to worry if the tag comes off for some reason. A Martingale style collar is one that tightens up when your dog tries to back out of it. When adjusted properly, a Martingale collar is nearly impossible to get out of. I know, because my dog Sky goes completely crazy sometimes, and she has been unable to wriggle out of her Martingale collar. If this collar can hold Sky while she is trying to run off, it should be able to hold any dog. Training collars, such as prong collars, pinch collars, shock collars, or choke chains, are not the best way to be training a dog; they can be dangerous, and people usually don’t leave these training collars on all the time. For loss prevention, you want a good quality collar that can be left on at all times. Some people like to give their dogs fashionable collars, which is fine as long as the collar is of good quality and has ID. An unusual collar may even help if your dog is lost because a distinctive collar will stand out with witnesses. Lighted collars are great for walking at night. Attaching a GPS unit to the collar can make it even safer.
Tags
Any tag is better than no tag. Certainly you should keep the phone number up to date. There are gimmicky tags that have QR codes and such, but I haven’t found that to be an advantage over simply having your phone number on the tag. You can get tags made at most pet stores and even some grocery stores or hardware stores. If you can’t get a tag immediately for a dog that recently came under your care, perhaps because you found him wandering, then write your number on a piece of paper and tape it to the collar. Anything is better than nothing. If jingling tags keep you awake at night, then you can go with the embroidered collar mentioned above.
Microchip
For loss prevention and recovery, the microchip is probably the single most important thing you can do for your dog. Collars come off, but the microchip will always be there. Our shelters would be empty if all those cats and dogs had chips. Be sure that your microchip company has your correct contact information. Also, have the chip scanned every time you take your dog in for an exam, to make sure it is working, and that it hasn’t migrated to some other area of the body.
Leashes
Regarding loss prevention and safety, I don’t recommend retractable leashes. If your dog is out at the end of a retractable leash, he can get into trouble before you manage to reel him in. Also, the thin cable can fail easier than a standard leash. If you drop the handle of your retractable leash, it is going to go zooming toward your dog, probably startling him, and then it can bang along on the pavement as he runs, sending him flying off in a panic. If you need to use a longer leash for some reason, as I do during searches, please use a nylon fabric leash or a leather leash in a 15’, 20’, or 30’ length. Sure, it’s not as convenient sometimes as a retractable, but it is much safer. If my search dog faces a risk while on a search, such as traffic or a charging dog, I can pull him back to me much faster with the standard nylon leash than I could with a retractable. Also, you can get leashes embroidered with your number on them, in case you drop the leash and your dog runs off.
Harnesses
A harness can be preferable to a collar for some dogs, or you can have a harness and a collar. Tino wears both, and his leash is attached to his harness because he really yanks on the leash sometimes, and I wouldn’t want that much force on his young puppy neck. If you have a new foster dog or a newly adopted rescue dog, always start off with a collar and a harness, and have two leashes, one attached to each. Put ID on the harness, too, in addition to ID on the collar, in case one or the other pops off. For comfort and safety, I prefer the type of harness that has webbing or fabric along the chest and neck. Tino hits the end of his leash at ninety miles an hour, and he never shows any sign that the harness hurts him. Viktor is an odd duck who prefers to spend most of his day in his kennel, away from the rest of us. Because I’m not observing as closely, I prefer to have him in a harness, not a collar, for the slight risk that a collar might get caught on his kennel somehow. In general, a harness will stay on more securely than a collar, but that isn’t always the case, especially with small dogs. Test your harness by pulling toward the dog’s head, to see if it will slip off.
Lights
I strongly recommend a light on your dog’s collar if you are in the habit of going for walks at night. It will alert people to your presence, and I have found that cars really slow down around us when my dogs have lights on their collars. Also, if your dog escapes somehow, the lighted collar will help you keep track of him longer.
GPS Tracking Devices
When Fozzie was younger, he was a little rascal, and he liked to run off. It wasn’t that he wanted to get away from me and the other dogs: he has always loved us and wanted to be near us at all times. Fozzie would bolt just because he likes adventure, and he likes to run wild like a crazy little man. A GPS tracker probably saved his life because it allowed me to pinpoint him quickly, before he faced too much risk from traffic and other dogs. We had very good luck with that particular brand of GPS unit. When they were bought out by another company, their devices became unreliable. In fact, I had a GPS unit on Viktor before he escaped, but I couldn’t get it to work. I was on the phone with customer service for hours, and the device still wouldn’t work. I had taken it off Viktor, because it wasn’t working anyway and I was going through the recommended procedures for rebooting it. Even though I knew Viktor was a high risk for escape, because of his history, and even though I put a GPS unit on him, it was no help because the unit failed. I wish I could recommend a particular brand of GPS which would be highly reliable, but so far I haven’t found a brand I could recommend. If your dog is a high risk of escape, please do research the various GPS devices, and pick the one that looks best to you, based on reviews. If it doesn’t work as advertised, stay on top of customer service and make sure they get it working for you. I hope someday in the near future, GPS units will be reliable, durable, long-lasting, and inexpensive. If they were, I would recommend a GPS unit for every dog.
I have ordered a GPS tracker for Tino, but it was supposed to be here three months ago and still hasn’t arrived, supposedly due to some manufacturing glitch. I don’t have high hopes for this device, but I’m going to give it a try. Tino ranks 5 of 5 on equipment, even though he doesn’t have the GPS unit yet.
Extra Precautions
In addition to proper equipment, safety inspections, training, and security cameras, there are still more precautions you can and should take. If you have never gone through the experience of losing a dog, you might think these precautions are excessive. You might think you know dogs and you know how to handle them, so something like this wouldn’t happen to you. Well, after eight years of finding lost pets, as a volunteer and as a professional, it happened to me, in spite of the precautions I had taken. Losing Viktor was a harrowing experience, and one I could have avoided with just one or two more precautions. I mean, I had already done so much, it wouldn’t have taken that much effort to do a couple of more things to ensure his safety. If you have ever experienced the loss of a dog, I think you will agree with me that redundant precautions are not a waste of time.
Preserve a Scent Article
A simple, easy thing you can do, which costs less than a dollar and takes less than two minutes, is to make and store a scent article. This is a sample of your dog’s scent, which is stored in the freezer, in case you ever need a search dog to look for your lost dog. A proper scent article can make a big difference to a search dog. If you have multiple pets, it can sometimes be difficult to find anything that hasn’t come into contact with other pets in the household besides the one that is lost. A contaminated scent article can make it difficult or impossible for a search dog to follow the correct scent trail. To make and secure a pure scent article is easy and quick. You need a sterile gauze pad, a plastic sandwich bag, and a permanent marker. You rub the gauze pad all over your dog, especially around the mouth and ears. If you can, try to wipe the gauze pad between your dog’s toes, as they have oil glands there. If your dog sheds much, try to pull out a little hair on the gauze pad. Put the gauze pad in the plastic bag and seal it securely. Mark the outside of the bag with permanent marker, with your dog’s name and the date. Store this in your freezer. A frozen scent article is good for up to three years, but I recommend creating a new one every six months, just to be on the safe side, in case your dog’s scent might change, due to aging, illness, or diet change. Do this for each of your pets, or any pet that is in your care temporarily. It would be especially important to create a scent article before you go on vacation.
Recall Command
This is something you should focus on in the beginning, when you first get a dog, and also continue to train, as a tuneup. The easiest way I have found to work on the recall command is to first get the dog to sit and stay as you back away from him. If your dog is anything like mine, he will be anxious to break out of the sit-stay, as if he is sitting on an ant hill. When you call him to come to you, he should burst toward you because he was dying to be released from the sit-stay. Treats help, of course. Teaching a dog to play fetch, in a safe, enclosed area, is also a great way to teach the recall command. When he is naturally inclined to return to you, as part of the game, ask him to come just before he makes the turn, so he becomes accustomed to coming when you call.
Update records with the chip company and your vet
I have found many stray dogs with no known owner. I carry a microchip scanner with me everywhere I go, and if a dog doesn’t have tags, I scan him right away. Much of the time, perhaps a quarter to a third of the time, the chip was never registered to the owner, or the contact info is obsolete. There are still ways to find the owner, with a little detective work. Or maybe the owner will call the chip company and get my phone number. There have been a few cases where a dog had a chip but the owner was never found. Sometimes a chip leads back to a veterinary clinic where the chip was implanted, but that vet might not have your current phone number. While you are updating records, create a file with current pictures, contact numbers, chip number, and basic data about your dog. Share this info with a relative or trusted friend. If your house burns down or your phone is stolen, that info will be safe with someone, and you can retrieve it quickly or your friend can share it for you.
Photographs
At this moment, I have 37,480 photos and videos on my iPhone. At least 36,000 of those are dogs or cats. Tino has been photographed every day of his life so far, and if he lives to be 15 years old, they will need to invent some new storage device for all the millions of pictures and videos I will have of him. Of course, Tino is a ridiculously handsome dog, and I enjoy photography. If Tino was ever lost, the main difficulty would be to choose which of a thousand pictures to use for the poster and the flier. I have been asked to search for lost dogs and cats where there aren’t good pictures available. In one particular case of a miniature schnauzer, the only picture they had was of their terrified dog sitting on the lap of The Grinch. I remember seeing Lost Dog posters around the area with a picture of The Grinch with a gray blob on his lap. It could have been a raccoon or a toaster, especially after the rain blurred the picture. In cases where the dog was newly adopted or just came into the foster home, no one had gotten around to taking pictures. If a dog comes under my care, even if it is a stray I just found wandering the street, one of the first things I do is to snap a few pictures. These days, almost everyone has a really good quality camera built right into her phone. Pictures can be very important in some situations, and it is easier than ever to get them.
Lost Dog Flyer Shot
Before your dog goes missing, take a few pictures against a plain background, preferably white or light in color. This should be easy to do. You can just have him stand near a wall inside your house. This picture should show his face clearly, and also give you a good idea of his body type. It would be nice if you could include any identifying marks or features. It’s not necessary for your dog to look happy or playful in this picture, but hopefully he doesn’t look annoyed. For this picture, you will probably want to make him hold a pose by offering a treat, held near the camera lens. One tip for better pictures of your dog: don’t hold your camera straight out in front of you, like you are pointing it at the dog. Instead, turn your body to the side, and hold your camera at an angle so it looks like you are pointing the phone away, past your dog. Because you can view the screen at an angle, you can still compose the photograph pretty good, and you can always crop it a little, later, if it’s crooked or off-center. As part of a Loss Prevention Assessment, I would take a few dozen pictures for you, and also give you tips on how to get better dog pictures. For this Lost Dog Flyer Shot, you want a clear, simple picture with a white or light background for two reasons. First, if someone is walking or driving past your flyer, the white background will make your dog stand out, and also make it easier to see the shape of your dog. Second, if you are printing hundreds of fliers, especially on your home printer, the white background can save a lot of ink, and save you a trip to the store for a replacement cartridge.
Clear Pictures of Identifying Features
These pictures are not for sharing, necessarily. You just want to keep them in a file, perhaps on Dropbox or Google Drive, just in case. Tino has a distinct pattern on his chest, that I haven’t seen on any other dog. Also, although he looks like a lot of German Shepherds, his facial pattern is fairly uncommon. I’ve seen a few dogs that looked so similar that I had to look really close to see the difference from Tino. I have close up shots of just these features. If anyone ever found Tino, they might post an ad on Craigslist, saying the owner needs to provide proof of ownership. Of course, Tino has a chip, but I could also quickly send someone these closeups of his markings, and there would be no doubt he was my dog. Be sure to take pictures over time, if your dog’s appearance changes because he is growing or because his hair grows out between grooming appointments. Fozzie, the white poodle, can look like a completely different dog if you compare his hair at its longest versus right after getting home from the groomer. Fozzie looks different even when it rains. I have pictures of him in all those situations. He doesn’t really have any distinguishing marks because he is all white. The only thing really distinctive is that his ears are more golden blonde than white. This shows up in some pictures but not others.
Glamour Shots
Take some pictures that make your dog look his best. He is freshly bathed and groomed, and you have good lighting and good backgrounds. You might even want to hire a professional photographer to shoot portraits of your dog. While I’m not a professional photographer, many people have told me that they love my pictures of dogs. Your assessment will include providing the best photos I can take, based on many decades of taking pictures. The purpose of high quality portraits is not necessarily for posters and fliers. These would more likely be used on Facebook, or on a blog or web page dedicated to your dog. Unfortunately, people will generally be more willing to help a lost dog that they think is attractive. Pretty pictures of a dog get shared more often than ones that are blurry or poorly lit. It is sad to think this way, but your lost dog is competing with dozens of other lost dogs, to get the attention of potential rescuers and volunteers. All dogs are wonderful, and all dogs are beautiful. It is sad but true that the dog with the best pictures gets the most attention in ads on craigslist and on social media. A really great picture of your dog also shows that your dog is a highly valued family member. If people see that you are investing a lot of your time and attention in your dog, they may be more willing to invest their time and attention. If they get the impression that your dog isn’t particularly important to you, they may be less motivated to spend their time and attention on the search for your dog.
Happy Pictures
Another category of pictures you want for social media and lost dog ads are a few shots showing your dog having a good time, even if the picture doesn’t necessarily do a good job of showing identifying features. Social media is all about pictures, and a playful or cute dog catches people’s attention. This pictures may even show your dog at angles or distances that distort his appearance, but the important thing is that the dog is obviously having fun, perhaps playing in the snow, or splashing in the waves at the beach, or playing Tug of War. Pehaps you snapped his picture while his face is distorted when he is snapping at a treat in mid air. Having him in a hat or a costume is great, as long as he doesn’t look miserable. Or maybe he is covered in mud after a trip to the park. These sorts of pictures draw people in and get them involved.
Videos
Also shoot a few short videos, perhaps 7 seconds to 20 seconds. These can be scenes of him playing, or just walking in the park, enjoying a sunny day. In a way, you should think of these videos as being an advertisement for your dog. If he is lost, you will need to advertise him, promote him, in order to get people to pay attention. Most smartphones have apps for making movies, and you can quickly put together a short video, perhaps containing a few still photos for clarity. On my iPhone, it is really easy to add text, such as a phone number. A video can also give people a sense of how your dog moves. As part of your assessment, I will provide you with a video that contains a few short video segments, the clear shot that would go on flyers, the glamour shots, and some happy pictures. I can send you two versions: one that you can share now if you want, and one with your phone number included, in case your dog goes missing.
In terms of photographs, Tino is off the charts, earning 500 of 5 stars.
The Status of Your Dog
I’m crazy about dogs, obviously. I spend pretty much every waking moment with a dog, thinking about dogs and cats, writing about them and taking their pictures. My work is all about dogs, and I started a nonprofit for stray dogs. Dogs are VIPs in my house. Not everyone views dogs this way. For some, a dog is an animal that serves a purpose, and maybe he is out in the yard all the time, to bark if a stranger comes around. Maybe you were stuck with a dog when someone moved out or passed away. Some people have dogs even though they don’t particularly like them. Some people have a strained relationship with their dogs, even though they love them, because of ongoing behavior problems. If my dog was lost, I would drop everything else and do nothing but search for him until he was found, however long that took. If you wouldn’t say that you necessarily feel the same about your dog, well, you probably wouldn’t have read this far. But if you have read this far and you would like to elevate your dog’s status in your house, think about ways that you can become more involved with your dog. Photography is a great way to deepen your attachment, as long as it isn’t an activity that is frustrating for either you or your dog. Maybe you can take videos of your dog riding around the kitchen on a robotic vacuum cleaner. Taking long walks with your dog is a great way to bond, as long as it isn’t a battle for you to keep control, and as long as walking your dog doesn’t elevate his risk of escape. Dogs need jobs, and they are happier when they have fulfilling work. Find a job your dog can do, even if it is as simple as playing fetch. Obedience training can and should be fun for you and your dog. Maybe your dog can learn to do agility courses, or you can develop a dance routine with your dog. I work with my dogs. They are my partners. I rely on them and they rely on me. I don’t have human children, and my dogs are my adopted children. This wasn’t always the case, and my dogs have achieved higher status in my family over the years. To reduce your dog’s chances of becoming lost, and to increase your chances of finding him if he were lost, think about ways your dog’s status could be elevated in your household. If you are reading this, or if you would hire me to do a loss prevention assessment, chances are that your dog already has the highest status in your house. If not, think about what might be stopping him from being that valuable in your household.
Circumstances with Elevated Risk
Many of the cases for which I am asked to search for a dog involve the owners being on vacation. So much so, that I simply won’t go on vacation without my dogs. I haven’t travelled in years. I used to take my dogs hiking, and when I look back on those hikes, which were wonderful, creating great memories, I now see I was exposing my dogs to an elevated risk of loss. I would certainly do things differently now. While I’m not suggesting that you abandon any plans of traveling or vacationing, I do think it’s a good idea to consider vacations, travel, and other times of year when your dogs face an elevated risk of escape. During holidays like the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve, when stupidity is epidemic, we pretty much retreat to the basement until the world regains its senses.
Out of Area Travel
The only way I could see myself traveling would be if I could rent or buy an RV. It would have to be a mobile fortress, with security cameras inside and out, which I could monitor from my phone if I was away from the vehicle. It would be nice if it also had a machine gun turret on top. This machine gun would be operated by remote control, and I could fire it from my iPhone if anyone got too close to my dogs while I was having lunch at a local cafe. If I ever do take time off from work, I am happy to just go to the beach or a local lake. Every year, we drive to Useless Bay on Whidbey Island, and romp around the off-leash park. That’s about as much vacation as I need. I think I’m rather unusual in this regard, and many pet owners love to travel, with or without their pets. It can be done safely, or at least there are safety precautions you can take for travel.
Keep in mind that dogs like their routines, and travel tends to disrupt those routines. If things like walks and meals will be happening at different times of day, that can lead to anxiety in a dog, and a greater risk of flight. If there are new caretakers, they might do things differently, or not be aware of a dog’s likes and dislikes. One of the main ways to prepare for a time of elevated flight risk is to make sure you are prepared in terms of equipment and precautions. This means collar, ID, harness, quality leashes, crates, GPS tracking unit, having your photographs ready, making sure you have a scent article stored both where the dog is staying and in another secure location. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If you go on vacation, your dog is roughly four times as likely to get lost. So, if you have taken all the necessary precautions, and your dog only has a 2% chance of going missing during your usual daily life, then he would have about an 8% chance of becoming lost while you were on vacation. If you have a difficult dog or a difficult situation, and your dog normally has a 25% chance of becoming lost during any given week, well, it’s a good bet he would get lost while you were on vacation. You would want him to be staying at a dog boarding facility that was a combination of a five star resort and a supermax prison. I’m sorry to sound so pessimistic about travel. Certainly there are people who travel all the time, and their pets have never gone missing. If you have a routine that is dialed in and working for you, and your pets have always been fine while you are gone, then keep doing what you are doing. However, I hope you will beef up some precautions, like GPS collars and scent articles. If you are travelling for the first time since a new dog joined your family, just be sure you have taken every precaution you can, and have a plan in place if you pet does go missing, as described below.
Transporting a Dog in Air Cargo
Don’t do it. If there’s any other way you can accommodate your dog, don’t put him in air cargo. Yes, hundreds of dogs are flown around the country every day, and nothing particularly bad happens to the majority of them. But a certain percentage of dogs get out of their carriers during transportation. We don’t know the actual numbers because the airlines won’t tell the public. Until the airline industry can give hard numbers, which could be independently verified, of how many dogs are lost during transport, I can’t recommend that anyone should put their dog in the cargo hold of a plane. According to one report, 29 pets simply died in air cargo during a ten month period. Estimates are that about 2 million pets are transported in air cargo every year, so the percentage of pets killed, lost, or stolen might be very small. However, you’re placing your dog in a situation where you have absolutely no control over anything that might happen. In the cases where I have knowledge of a pet being lost by an airlines, every attempt was made to keep information from the public. Until the airline industry can be transparent about losing dogs during transport, there is simply no way you could get me to put my family member in the cargo hold of a jet for hours.
If you do transport a dog by air cargo, for Pete’s sake, don’t open the carrier in the parking lot of the air cargo company. If your dog has traveled in air cargo, only open the carrier inside an enclosed space, like the interior of your car, or your garage or house.
Travel Around Town
During your dog’s daily life, going for a ride with you to the grocery store is probably going to be the time of day that he faces his highest risk of becoming lost. If you have a low risk dog, and you have taken all the precautions, then maybe it is still a relatively low risk activity for your dog. Some of the things you need to consider are accidents, theft, and, believe it or not, self-described Good Samaritans. Any time the temperature climbs above 60 degrees, Facebook is flooded with memes about dogs dying in hot cars. It’s true, you should be concerned about your dog overheating in your car. However, every year, this gets blown way out of proportion, and the Hot Car Crazies come out of the woodwork. I stop and get my mail at a post office box. At least three times a year, I will come out of the post office to find a gray-haired woman shouting at me that I’m killing my dogs. It’s a post office! How long do you think I was in there? And I’m not talking about the downtown post office where you might stand in line for twenty minutes. This is a little neighborhood post office where there would literally be no possible way you could spend more than three minutes in there, even if you took time to sort your junk mail into the recycle bin. Yes, overheating in cars is a danger, but the Hot Car Crazies are a bigger risk to your dog. They egg each other on, and sooner or later, they are going to break someone’s window even though the owner has only been gone five minutes. By the way, each time a woman has been standing by my car yelling at me, it has been under 65 degrees and I was away from my car less than two minutes.
Holidays
Holidays are peak times for dogs to escape. Routines are broken, strangers are coming and going at home, and loud fireworks at New Year’s and July 4th can cause a dog to flee in panic. Dogs should be kept behind two doors, such as the front door and a bedroom door, for safety on these high risk days. The holidays are also a time of travel, which brings its own risks, as mentioned above. Visitors should be made aware of dogs in the house, and informed of procedures they need to take. Some dogs are perfectly happy with the holiday hullabaloo, but don’t just assume that a dog will be okay with it if that dog is new to you. Certainly, you should have your equipment, precautions, and plans in place before a holiday.
Tino seems to be fine with guests and fireworks. Plus, I try to avoid the holidays as much as possible anyway.
Potential for Theft
Someone would have to be crazy to try to steal my dogs. Although, if little Fozzie was unattended in the yard, by himself, (which never, ever happens) I could see how someone who just happened to be walking by might be tempted to steal him. When people call me to report their dog missing and ask for help, they often suspect their dog was stolen, as in, deliberately taken from their house or yard. That has never turned out to be the case, that I’m aware of. I do know of one unusual case where two women deliberately stole a dog that was tied up outside of a bar. They thought the owner was careless and neglectful, and they stole her dog to teach her a lesson. One of the woman was caught with the dog in her home, 8 months later, after extensive detective work by volunteers. While theft does happen, the usual way it happens is that someone finds a dog and then simply keeps it, without trying to find the owner. This is theft, and it happens every day. Even some nonprofit dog rescues engage in this sort of theft. Their volunteers see a dog roaming, they declare the dog was abandoned, even though they have no proof of that, and they place the dog up for adoption with no effort to find the owner. The main way you protect your dog from being stolen is to make sure he never gets lost or roams unattended. You shouldn’t even leave your dog in your yard unattended. If you have some reason to worry that your dog might actually be targeted for theft by someone, then it would be prudent to install several surveillance cameras, and try not to leave the dogs alone if at all possible.
Potential Encounters with Dangerous Dogs
If an unknown dog runs up to your dog, it is usually best not to panic, and just let the dogs sniff each other. It can happen fast, and you might literally have less than a second to make a quick decision to pull your dog away, divert the approaching dog, pick up your dog, or use some other deterrent like pepper spray. When one dog came charging up out of nowhere, barking and snarling, toward my calm, happy dog, I kicked him under the rib cage before he reached my dog. This startled him and knocked him back, and he went yipping off toward his oblivious owner on the other side of the park. Another time, I misread a dog that was charging at Fozzie. I thought he was just excited and playful. Too late, I tried to intervene when I saw the dog was a little too intense. He bit Fozzie before I could grab him and pull him off. Now, if a dog is running up toward Fozzie, I scoop him up just to be on the safe side. I also carry pepper spray, although I haven’t had a need to use it in the six months that I’ve been carrying it. In general, I try to avoid situations where there is a possibility that a loose dog could run up unexpectedly. Because I use my dogs on searches, and we typically spend 3 or 4 hours moving through unfamiliar neighborhoods and terrain, I have to be alert to loose dogs approaching my working dogs. 95% of them are friendly, or at least not dangerous. I try to always be prepared to protect my dogs if needed.
If a loose dog and your dog end up getting into a fight, it is important that you take the right approach to break up this fight. If one of them latches onto your arm or hand, it will make it much harder to break it up. The key is to grab one or both dogs by the back legs, lift them off the ground, and pull back. Don’t stop pulling until the dog you have hold of is on the other side of some barrier, like a fence. If you have pepper spray, that may break up the fight. Most of the time, when two dogs appear to be fighting, the look like they are ripping each other to shreds but when you get them apart, neither dog has a mark on him. It can be hard to tell the difference between a real, damaging fight, and a posturing, display fight.
Attacks by loose dogs can often lead to your dog becoming lost when he tries to escape the charging dog, and he backs out of his collar. Try to think about how you would respond to a dog charging at you, and have a plan that is appropriate for your dog’s size and personality. When I meet your dog, I may have suggestions on the best way to deal with this situation.
Tino is 69 pounds at 7 months old. He is already big, and he’s bound to get bigger. He is a steady, smart dog, and he is not afraid of much. Neither is he aggressive, although he might seem aggressive when he barks at dogs, even though he really just wants to play. He has been wrestling and play fighting with my big dogs since he was two months old. If he was truly attacked by a dog, I’m guessing that my biggest worry would be that I would have a full blown dog fight on my hands. How would I protect him from a charging dog? First, I would try to read if the charging dog just wants to check Tino out and maybe play, or if he really intends harm. It’s a tough call, and you usually just have a second or two to decide. I have practiced getting my pepper spray out of its holster quickly, and having it ready to spray, so this motion is instinctive, and I don’t have to think about it.
Regarding circumstantial dangers, I think Tino is fairly well protected. He is almost never alone. Actually, I don’t think he has spent one minute without a human nearby in his entire life. I take precautions to avoid potentially dangerous situations, and I am alert and aware. I give Tino 5 of 5 stars as far as being protected from circumstantial dangers.
Have an Escape Plan
By that I mean that you should already have thought out what you would do if your dog did escape. This could involve tracking him by GPS, looking in the places he is likely to go, mobilizing the troops to go look, or asking for professional help. Before your dog ever runs off, please have it set in your mind that you WILL NOT CHASE him. It’s an instinctive thing to do, and it can be really hard to stop yourself from chasing after a lost or stray dog. Fix it in your mind, right now, that you won’t chase your lost dog. Instead, stay calm, talk to him in a calm voice, and try to lure him with things he likes. For example, pretend you have a treat in your pocket. If he likes to fetch, bend down and pick up a stick, or pretend to. Perhaps you might even try running away from him, and get him to chase. Whatever you do, chasing him will not work. In the few instances where chasing a dog has worked, the chaser got lucky because the dog ran into a fence yard or some other trap. 99% of the time, chasing a dog just makes matters much worse.
Also, if your dog has been lost for more than a few minutes, you must not call his name. Instead, you should just talk in a normal tone of voice. For other things you should do if your dog is missing, please see this free guide on finding lost dogs. In fact, I would be delighted if you would read the entire thing before your dog goes missing, just so you will be prepared. As outlined earlier in this article, before your dog goes missing, you will have taken precautions, such as having a scent article in the freezer, and having appropriate photographs ready to share. Think about your dog’s personality and how he would likely behave if lost, and prepare your plan based on likely scenarios. Because I knew Fozzie was an escape artist when he was young, I made sure to have a reliable GPS tracker on his collar, and it helped me track him down quickly. What is my plan if Tino goes missing? Well, I think it is highly unlikely, but if he did go missing, I have a search dog, Fozzie, prepared to track him from the scent article stored in the freezer. I also have pictures ready. Tino also has a fan club on Facebook, so if he was truly missing, I imagine a small army would be ready to go look for him. If he was truly lost, I could make one or two phone calls, and I could be pretty sure that a trusted friend would be on top of coordinating volunteer efforts for me as I got Fozzie started on the scent trail. I would also have someone stationed at home, because chances are he would circle back toward home very soon, and probably be at the front door before Fozzie and I got very far on the scent trail.
In conclusion, you can best protect your dog from becoming lost by being aware of the ways it might happen, taking precautions to prevent the common escape methods, and being prepared to respond if your dog is truly lost. By knowing your dog’s habits, personality, and environment, you can focus your prevention efforts on the most likely risks. Below, as an example, I have given assessment reports for Tino at age 7 months and for Viktor when I first trapped him and brought him home.
Loss Risk Assessment Report for Tino
Valentino is a solid, stable young dog, 7 months old. He has lived in the same house all his life and known only one owner. Tino has a great bond with his human family, and an even closer bond with the four other dogs he lives with. Tino’s behavioral problems are minor and correctable. He has responded well to training. A few ways Tino’s protection against loss could be improved would be:
- Fencing the yard. (Unlikely and impractical.)
- A GPS tracking unit. (On order.)
- Better and more consistent restraint during car travel.
- Improved recall command.
- Security cameras inside and out.
Tino’s risk of loss and recovery, before and after implementing suggestions: The possibility of Tino escaping or becoming lost is very low, but not zero. This is not a scientific formula, but it is my best estimate, based on a review of Tino’s personality, habits, environment, caretakers, and the precautions in place. In the coming year, Tino would have approximately a 7% chance of becoming lost once in 365 days. His odds of being found would be close to 100%. Only in a very unusual and hard-to-foresee circumstance would Tino ever be lost and not recovered. After implementing the recommendations above, Tino’s odds of becoming lost would shrink to about 2% per year, and his odds of being found would be as close as possible to 100%, given the multiple pathways to recovery, including GPS, tags, microchip, social media, search dogs, etc.
Loss Risk Assessment Report for Viktor. (Note: I am writing this report as though the evaluation is being done in the first week I had him, before he actually broke out of the house.)
Viktor is about five years old. He came from a shelter in California, where he lived in a kennel for six months before being transported to Washington. On his second day in Seattle, he took advantage of the first opportunity and bolted from an adoption event at a pet store. The rescue that transported him to Washington made little or no effort to recover him. Viktor was seen wandering over a five week period, during which he traveled 20 miles. He was eventually captured by a nonprofit rescue that specializes in helping stray dogs. Viktor prefers not to be touched, although he tolerates it. He is highly food motivated. He seems to like having people around, but not too close. He sometimes limps, probably indicating an old injury, probably due to being hit by a car. Viktor is currently being fostered in a house with a trained expert on dog escapes and recovery, so even though the odds of Viktor escaping would be pretty much 100% if no precautions were taken, the foster has taken multiple precautions, and the odds of escape are greatly reduced, but not zero. The odds of recovering Viktor are harder to predict. The precautions taken, including storing a scent article, multiple ID tags, microchip, and a GPS tracker are sensible precautions. However, given that Viktor was caught in a humane trap once, it seems unlikely that he would go in the humane trap a second time. Also, the GPS unit doesn’t seem to be functioning properly at this time, so it should be a priority to get that fixed.
Suggested improvements for Viktor’s loss prevention strategy include:
- Making sure his GPS tracker works properly
- Creating a fenced yard. (Not likely any time soon.)
- Working on creating a bond with Viktor.
With those improvements, if Viktor eventually became bonded to a person and comfortable in a home, his desire to escape could be reduced from its current level of 100%. How low that desire could be reduced is hard to predict, with how little is known about him and his history. Escape prevention will continue to be the key with Viktor. The only way I could envision reducing the odds of escape to near zero would be to have a large yard with a double fence (a fence within a fence) ten feet high, with a concrete foundation wall, and cameras to watch him. If ever there was a dog that ought to have a GPS tracking unit, it is Viktor. Regarding the chances of getting Viktor back, I would put the odds at 75%. Viktor would be determined to avoid capture, but his foster would be equally determined to get him, one way or another.
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In the above report, I don’t mention the cat door. He eventually escaped through this cat door, which I did not think was possible. A, it didn’t appear big enough for him to squeeze through. I’m still amazed he got through it. B, it was boarded up, and it was blocked by objects stacked in front of it, so he shouldn’t even have know the cat door existed. I’m guessing he must have smelled air leaking through. So, even if I had done a deliberate, methodical assessment like this, I might have missed that possibility of escape. Regarding the GPS unit, I was on the phone with the provider several times, for hours, trying to get the unit working. To this day, I still don’t know why it didn’t work. They said it checked out okay on their end, but it just wasn’t communicating like it should. In hindsight, I should have just gone and purchased another brand of GPS and put it on him immediately. Viktor did escape, and he was a little hard to find and very hard to catch. Pictures I took before he escaped were very helpful, and the harness he was wearing made him easy to identify. The search dog was not successful tracking him because it appears Viktor made a loop several times before striking out in a northerly direction. The search dog kept looping back to the point of escape. Although the foster, me, didn’t have a specific plan in place for finding Viktor if he escaped, because I had been finding lost dogs for years, and written books on the subject, I definitely had a general plan for finding him and implemented it right away. It took a week, and 100 hours of my time to find and catch him. Volunteers and friends also invested their time, probably more than 200 hours total. Now, 18 months after Viktor was captured, escaped, and captured again, his odds of escaping are greatly reduced. Although I won’t test this theory, I think that if I accidentally dropped Viktor’s leash while we were on a walk, he would probably just go home, to be fed. I am still vigilant with the precautions. Viktor doesn’t exactly show affection toward me, but he seems to have grown accustomed to me, and he definitely likes his routines. As stated earlier, Viktor seems most attached to the puppy, Tino, although he still acts grumpy.
To schedule a Loss Prevention Assessment, please email [email protected] or call 206-552-0304.