*WHAT TO DO IF YOUR DOG IS MISSING*

Once a search is launched, it should be tailored to the dog, the situation and the environment by the experienced team you will hopefully have found, but there is key guidance that applies to almost every search initially.

DOGS WILL TRY TO RETURN TO THEIR OWNER / THEIR HOME depending on where they went missing. This can even apply to newly rescued dogs, or dogs missing in a place they don’t know.

If your dog is missing FROM HOME,

Someone should stay there 24/7. The dog will try to return, but it may take hours, or all night; the early hours are less busy and scary for them to move around. Even if you need to pop out, try to follow the same advice with open doors, if at all possible, especially in the first 24 hours.

Check they aren’t hiding in the house or garden, or stuck somewhere.
Try to find out how they got out. A gate left open, tiny gaps in fencing, or small holes in the ground, items near fences that could have been used to climb or jump from.
Check doorbell cameras
Leave smelly food outside the door. Make a trail from outside your property. Chicken, cheese, sardines; this is about enticing them, not giving them optimum nutrition.
Leave out clothing that smells of you.Their dog bed too, just inside, if they are partial to it!
Call your dog gently now and again. Just your voice, no strangers.
IF YOU SEE YOUR DOG, make yourself small, sitting or lying down talking quietly and gently. Try to avoid direct eye contact. Gently chuck treats around you. WAIT for them to come to you. Do NOT GRAB, and only reach to secure them when 100% certain of securing them.
More active searching by a familiar person/people is appropriate if the dog is old, sick, deaf/blind or a puppy.
At this point don’t send strangers out and take care before deploying drones just yet (needs assessing on an individual basis with your team)

If your dog went missing ON A WALK,

Do not wander randomly, searching. If you arrived by car, stay at the car, running the engine every 30 minutes for so for about 10 minutes. Leave a door open and at night leave the interior light on. Call out gently now and again. Drop smelly treats on the ground and be prepared to wait all night. Stay warm. Get people to bring you warm things, water, food, torch, treats and anything you need.

IF YOU SEE YOUR DOG, make yourself small, sitting or lying down talking quietly and gently. Try to avoid direct eye contact. Gently chuck treats around you. WAIT for them to come to you. Do NOT GRAB unless 100% certain of securing them. It’s hard to do, but you must.
More active searching by a familiar person/people is appropriate if the dog is old, sick, deaf/blind or a puppy,
At this point don’t send strangers out and think carefully about deploying drones just yet. It may be the right call, but may get in the way of the dog returning of its own accord.

In both cases, if possible, another family member can search the area, checking for hiding places, talking to neighbours or passers-by and carrying high value treats. Call them repetitively in a cheery and gentle way. Don’t shout; stay calm. They could be scared, and once in survival mode they will start to avoid all people, even owners.

OTHER STEPS TO TAKE:

Contact your microchip company to report your dog missing. Make sure the details are up to date with a current phone number. If they don’t reply quickly, try Facebook messenger, if they have a page. That worked for me. Contact your vet and let them know. Call your local dog warden too, especially if your chip details are unregistered or incorrect. Read our post on microchips for more info.
If there is a railway close by, report your missing dog on Network Rail’s emergency helpline: 03457 11 41 41. If you think your dog may be on the lines KEEP CALLING until they agree to look for them. Remind them that a person might go on the lines to search. Tell them there are holes in the fencing. They need pestering.
Register your dog and report them missing on www.doglost.co.uk
If you have a coat, collar or toy that only your dog used, pop it in a clean plastic bag just in case there is a dog tracking dog in your area. They are rare, sadly, but it’s worth doing this early on to preserve scent.
Post on social media [Facebook, WhatsApp groups, Community groups] Use recent, clear photos AND a clear description including their size and distinguishing marks, precise location and time of loss, and contact phone numbers. Ask people NOT to approach, chase or grab your dog, but to report sightings immediately to you with as much precise detail as possible, and photos if they can. Sightings must NEVER be shared publicly. Start with DogLost both nationally and your local community and lost dog pages.
BEWARE of scammers popping up on your post and lost dog searchers with no proven experience or proof of securing missing dogs [i.e. posts describing successful searches that THEY have carried out] or any that don’t appear to follow these guidelines. Start with your local DogLost page. Your area may have other good SAR people. See our guide to ‘choosing your team’.
POSTERS and flyers. Awareness is the most important thing now; you need sightings. DogLost has poster templates, and you can find our examples on this site. It’s a good idea to get some professionally printed express-speed, and laminated. Home-made ones are great to start with but if the search is lengthy, they’ll get wet and damaged even if laminated. Buy cable ties and organise people to put them up for maximum exposure, outside or in shops, vets, businesses. If your dog could be hiding in a garden, make A5 flyers and get a team to post them through doors. A friend could coordinate all this for you and record poster locations on a google map. DELEGATE!

OTHER TOOLS:

Thermal drones are a very useful tool in canine SAR. They are not the magic bullet the media hype would imply. Pilots need specific training or experience, and they need to plan and plot their flights, and double check all footage afterwards. The weather needs to be good and the search area fairly defined.
Thermal scopes are also useful for owners to search at ground level, possibly where foliage makes drones less useful.
Dog tracking dogs are few and far between, but if there is a team in your area then use them.
Traps. Should only be used by expert trappers, and usually not until the dog has established a pattern of visits and feeding.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT SIGHTINGS:

If a sighting is very recent, go to the location with smelly treats and wearing well-worn clothes for extra scent.
Be VERY, VERY PATIENT, and if you see your dog, become ‘small’, avoid direct eye contact and talk to them quietly, gently throwing food around you.
Don’t walk randomly around an area of interest; instead walk a route or routes that your dog could follow to be safe. You can repeat this daily.
Get your team to advise on setting up feeding stations and motion sensor cameras in that area once you have definite sightings. See below.

By now you should have a good SAR team advising you, so take their advice. They should ask you all about your dog, so they can assess the likelihood of them being in ‘survival’ mode, meaning they may hide and possibly become nocturnal, and the best way to get them home based on their breed, age and health, their past behaviour and history, temperament, how and why they went missing and if sighted, their demeanor and whether they’ve bolted from people when sighted.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The plan is to build up a regular pattern of sightings [which should be logged accurately; on google ‘my maps’ if possible]. In this case, remote motion-sensor cameras lent by DogLost or your appropriate SAR team can be deployed [these are wildlife trail cameras or adapted Ring doorbells cameras with remote routers] and ‘stinky stew’ laid down to tempt your dog to the camera. Ideally, a pattern of visits to feeding stations/cameras will develop, at which point securing or trapping can take place, but ONLY by an expert, experienced team. This work takes massive patience and experience.