Heidi is an Entlebuch Mountain Dog. They are a smallish, high-energy herding breed. Heidi completed our customized board and train program, followed up with private obedience classes. She did us all proud at the Entlefest in September where she passed the evaluation for her CGC certificate! In addition,

“…She also won a silver medal for catching hot dog bites from the farthest distance.  We won a blue ribbon for the ‘best photo’.  I had printed out, in black and white, the photo of George, the fat cat, looking through the ring of Heidi’s tale.  She scored very well on herding instinct….”

Heidi’s success is due to an awful lot of work by her mom, Jeaneen, and the whole family! She illustrates the goal that obedience training is about pet dogs being part of the family and having fun with them!

Let me start by suggesting that if you have lost a pet, you should visit lostapet.org. It is loaded with helpful information and links to other sources of information.

For the past year or so, my retired man-trailing dog, Xena, and I have been responding to requests for locating lost or missing pets. When I started, I had no idea there was such a demand for these services. Since my background is in human search and rescue, I tried to bring many of those techniques to searching for lost pets.

I think it is important for people to understand that search dogs are not necessarily the best resource for locating lost pets. I often find the expectation is that the search dog will come out and in minutes, magically pick up the track, find the missing pet, and bring it home. The disappointing fact is we are not very likely to bring home your pet. We have actually located a missing pet on only a few occasions. In one case, a missing cat had been hit by a car, and was found deceased under a shed. Although it was very sad, the cat’s guardian positively learned what had happened and was able to recover the remains of the pet. On another more fortunate search we were lucky, and found the missing cat under a shed less than a day after she knocked the screen out of a window and had disappeared. On another occasion, although we didn’t find the missing cat we were after, I suspect we flushed it out of hiding. He appeared on his front porch the next morning. On at least two occasions, we were able to put searchers into a neighborhood where their flyers and door to door visits produced sightings and ultimately contributed to locating their pets. The bottom line is, search dogs are only one part of what should be a multifaceted attempt to recover the lost pet. The main thing you should do, particularly if you have a missing dog, is to get the word out to people who may see, and hopefully detain, your missing pet. Flyers, flyers, and more flyers is what I highly suggest! Also, with cats, the key is often knowing where to set a live animal trap.

The advantage of the search dog is that it may be able to direct your search, thus making you more efficient.

The techniques we use to help locate lost pets may include:

1. Trailing. We start with a scent article from your missing pet. We start in the area where you pet was last seen and try to pick up a track and direction of travel. Time and weather conditions will have a big effect on our ability to effectively follow a trail.
2. Airscent. We give the search dog a scent article and then walk along likely areas, hoping to cross the scent of the missing pet. This is tried if at some point we lose the trail, or are unable to locate a trail and the owner feels there may be an area that should be checked. Depending on the amount of time the pet has been missing this can be like looking for the proverbial "needle in a haystack." Sometimes we get lucky and are able to put the dog’s nose where it needs to be.
3. Support. Frequently we can help simply by offering supportive guidance and advice over the Internet or telephone.

At this time, I do not charge a formal fee for the services that Xena and I provide. However, because of time, travel, fuel expenses, and occasional lost wages from my regular job, I ask that you consider what our efforts are worth to you, and you contribute whatever you feel is reasonable as my fee.

Xena had a search for a missing 4-month old Saint Bernard pup in Pennsylvania. We determined that the puppy’s trail led to the road. Xena lost it there. That afternoon the owner got a call from someone who had found a puppy on the road. The first thing the caller asked was, "how much is the reward?" Apparently, the reward was not high enough because he hung up. A short time later, the man called back to say it was the "wrong pup." (Now, one has to wonder how many Saint Bernard puppies are wandering in that town on a given day?)

Since the situation sounded suspicious, the pup’s owner called me the next day to tell me that the "gentleman" had called several more times, and managed to talk them into paying $500.00 in order to get their puppy back! I’m wondering if the pup had been microchipped, could the owners have gone to the police and had the man charged with property theft?

Microchipping is a small chip your vet can implant in your pet using a syringe. It is injected subcutaneously, and remains there as a benign object, as far as the pet’s body is concerned. Animal Control, animal hospitals, and many animal rescue organizations can read the code with a special scanning tool. Several registries are available that can have your pet’s important information listed on them. This information can then immediately enable someone who has scanned your ‘chipped’ pet learn not only your pet’s identity, but yours as well, and help get your pet returned to you. 

Microchipping is definitely worth considering. It is invaluable as a method to prove ownership.  More importantly, collars and/or ID tags can easily be removed or pulled off, or a pet simply may not have been wearing it on the one occasion when the pet got loose or went missing. We have participated in a number of searches for a missing dog or cat and been told by the owners that the pet "always wears a collar with ID, but just didn’t have it on today."  

For more information on microchipping, check the following websites:

http://www.avidmicrochip.com

http://www.homeagainID.com

P.S. Don’t forget to mail in the registration after you get your pet chipped!

This exercise requires two people, and of course, a dog. One person holds the dog and acts like a "tree."  The other person shows the dog the reward and is exciting to the dog!  Basically, he acts like a "squirrel."

Notice that Philip doesn’t let Buck get to Eric while he is showing him his goodies. Eric then drops a scent article and runs away, calling to Buck as he goes. After a short distance, Eric ducks into a hiding place. For trailing, the hiding helper should check the direction of the wind and hide on the down-wind side, so that the wind is blowing across the trail toward the helper that has the dog. Depending on the pup’s experience level, we first let the pup watch. Next, we let the pup watch until the article is dropped and then hide his eyes.  Finally, we hide his eyes as the hiding helper leaves.

We want to see the dog moving excitedly along the trail. Buck is following down the exact path Eric took to run. For an inexperienced puppy, your hiding helper should ideally be running on mowed grass, since it holds scent nicely. Trailing on asphalt, however, is not a problem for most dogs. Once the "game" is understood, I like to introduce the puppy to as many different surface types as possible while he is still a beginner.

On an aged trail, like the one Buck encounters in the photo below, Buck is running along the curb where the scent has probably drifted or been blown from cars driving over the actual track. He is also working slower and concentrating more. Thinking games are good for dogs that are "busy" and "need a job." Trailing can be a fun game played with the kids on a nice afternoon. It is not just for "working" dogs.

Buck tells us he found the right subject by laying down next to him. That is Eric’s cue to give the reward to him. The end of the trail is not the time to debrief or evaluate the exercise. As soon as the dog lays down in front of the correct person his search was intended for, everyone’s focus should then be on praising, reinforcing, and celebrating the dog’s accomplishment. Essentially, have a party around the dog in his honor!

Everyone can participate as long as the dog is having fun!