What would you do Lost Yorkie

[DBlain]

I just read a posting an hour ago that a Facebook Friend that lives in the next town over from me who I have not met face to face has lost her yorkie. She is in FL on vacation with her family and her mother is watching the dog. I converse with this gal a lot and we keep making plans to meet but she has been sick a lot. I know she is for real because she went to the groomer I go to based on my recommendation.

I messaged her and offered help but no response yet. This story hits close to home since it happened to my sister in NY when my mom was watching her yorkie. Since I live in MI my parents never told me or my sister and they did a lot of things wrong and wasted a lot of time. I found the mom's address via online white pages and left a phone message. Should I get in my car and go over there, or stay put until I hear something. I just feel so bad and can not imagine how I would be if Lola went missing. I think I would stop at nothing short including calling in the National Guard to help find her.

[DBlain]

well I decided to call the mom in offer of support and left a voice mail. Just got a phone call from her saying that the dog has been found. A woman headed home from work saw it running along the road, the poor little guy was headed away from the direction of his grandma's home but towards the direction of his own home, he was more than a mile away. I found out he had been missing for over three hours, they had a repair man in the house that left the door ajar for a little bit that is how he got out. So happy there was a good ending to the story, another reason why a collar with a tag on it is a must have

[Micah my love]

Thank goodness this baby was found by a good person or your friend may have never seen it again....so glad that there is still good people in our midst

[MandiesMom]

Donna - I am just now seeing this. You are so sweet to want to do what you were going to do. What a great friend and a great doggie lover!!! I am not surprise in the least that you were going to do all you could to help.

I am so very happy to read in your second post that the baby was found! Yayness!!!!

Also, as with Bengi back around Thanksgiving, this is another GREAT example of why we should have collars with tags (especially if they are not microchipped) on these pups! You just never know...away from home or AT home...anything can happen out of the blue and your pup get out. I know so many people think it's not important in their own home (I used to be one of those people), but who are any of us to think we are better than a twist of fate and our dog won't get loose?

[JANICE C]

Oh my Thank Goodness there is a happy ending! Thanks for the wake-up call. I never put collars on either one of mind. They only wear harness with their tags on when we go walking out for a ride. My Sheltie is mico chipped and Chloe will be soon. But your right what if they just got out and ran. That is one of the reasons I purchased the largest and tallest play yard for Chloe in fear that when we have people over someone might leave the door open. I don't know why I didn't think about collars with tags. I don't know what I would do if I lost either one one mine. Again Thanks for the wake-up call on this because you just never know.

[Maximo]

You are very sweet to have offered your help. I am happy to hear the little guy was found safe and sound. Scary!

[My lil friend]

I am so glad that the outcome was good. When there are repair people in the house,I put everyone in a crate or pen. I also tell the repair person to NOT leave my doors open,I dont care how inconvient it is for him. My house,my rules. When we arrived home from our trip last Sunday,my daughter in law met me in the yard and put Mina down,off leash with a car coming up the road. I grabbed Mina and my DH looked hard enough at her to melt her.
Again I am so thrilled that the baby was found!!

[Patti]

I am glad he was found safe. You're a good friend to offer to help.

[DBlain]

ever since that incident with my sister's yorkie Lucy I really get torn up over these missing dog stories. It's been well over a year but this story once again brings it back up and sometimes I still feel mad at my mom over it, yet I know she really was to old to think things through properly. But it taught me so many lessons and changed the way I do things. Many of you have probably read some of my posts on this before, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record knowing that vacations soon will be starting it's worth repeating even if just one person changes what they do.

Regardless of a micro chip a collar is a must even for paper trained inside dogs because these little ones can escape so quickly through just a crack in the door. Not everyone that finds a dog thinks to have it checked for a micro chip and even if they do it delays the process by days. To me a micro chip is more to prevent a dog from being stolen or at least identified if it was. A collar and a tag gets your dog back to you so much quicker. Often when people find a dog without a collar they assume that the owner does not care that much, perhaps even that it might have been abanded, the found dog is anonymous without a tag. A tag with the dogs name and owner's name sort of shouts out hey I belong to someone, I am loved. Often people are tempted when finding a yorkie to keep it, IMHO the lack of a collar makes it easier for them to justify that in their mind

What's on the collar is so important and if your situation changes even for a few days the collar should be updated. My sister's dog was gone for close to a week before they found her, why because the collar had her home number on it, and she was in Cancun not checking messages. On top of that my mom did not want to ruin her vacation by calling her. So even though the person that found the dog called my sister's home phone no one knew and after about a week they were starting to lean towards keeping Lucy. Also the person never even thought to check for a micro chip which if they did would have been given my mom's contact info since my sister did have her listed there as a backup.

So now Lucy's tag has both a cell number and home number, and it gets swapped out for one with my mom's name on it, if she leaves Lucy there for more than a day. I often did not use a collar and for years did not even have a tag for my dogs, but I do now and it includes both number. I also had two other ones made for the people that have taken care of Lola when we have been gone.

I truly believe that a dog is more likely to escape when being watched at someone else home or when the owner goes away, it just seems like most dogs have that instinct to want to find their owner so escape any chance they can, so you need to have "that what if" talk with anyone you leave you dog with. For some reason many people think it is best not to call someone to deliver the news your dog is missing, because they don't want to ruin your vacation or feel that the owner is to far away to do anything. To me that would be the last thing my sister or I would want, so mom knows now that one of the first calls she has to make is to my sister and then me as well. It took her a while to understand this,but had she told me early on, I could have walked her though the caller Id on my sisters phone

With the situation today we did not need it, but we had access to pictures of Kipper if needed, if you are on vacation does the person watching your dog have access to photos and pertinent info. Because if you are a plane ride away you will have to rely on someone else to do the quick leg work for. I am sure there are many other tips but these are the ones that would have gotten my sister's situation resolved in hours instead of days.

in case you were wondering my sister's dog was found because my parents finally were able to post a few flyers, and the man across the street from the person that found the dog told him about the poster. The person that found the dog did not do much at all other than call my sister's house, I think he felt he did his duty. Had I been there I would have gone door to door knocking and checking but once again my folks are in their 80's and have trouble climbing up and down front steps. So think about the age and capabilities of the person you are leaving your dog with in case something bad happens, honestly I would not at this stage have my parents watch Lola for more than about a day.

I am sure there are other good suggestions so please feel free to post them. Oh and I just got a really nice message from my Facebook friend thanking me for taking the step to call her mom, I was hoping she would not think I was some type of Facebook stalker.

[Lisa and Pic]

Oh, I am so glad this ended happily. And thrilled you were willing to help.

My little story about Buster in January, the YHR foster... He got out of our yard while I was having lunch with friends. (My husband let him out on the deck with Piccolo and Vivi, while he went to the garage for a couple of minutes.) I came home and I cannot tell you how upset I was about Buster being lost.

Fortunately, I have the best neighbors and friends in the world. They dropped everything and we had about 20 people looking for over 3 hours. Honestly, I will never forget their time and trouble and love them so much for that. So hugs to you and I bet your Facebook friend feels the same way about you, because you were willing to search.

[DBlain]

wow until I posted what I was typing I did not realize how long it was, even for me that's a big post

Thanks for saying nice things about me wanting to help, but knowing you guys you would have all offered the same help

[Lisa and Pic]

Just gotta add that I so much agree with your post above. (I did not see it until I just posted.)

I go on and on to my dogsitter about watching my pups constantly, while in her care. Also, my husband says I just about divorced him because he was not watching Buster every second while he was out in our yard. (He does watch him now! ) Tags are soooo important and glad you talked about this too!

[navillusc]

I do sooooo love a happy ending! How sweet of you to try to help...kind of weird trying to think what the 'correct protocol' was in this situation, but I suspect both your online friend and her family realize what a good friend you were/are to them. I know I would be out of my mind if my kids were missing, and having people who care offer their help would mean the whole world to me.