I like to think of myself as a good pet owner. We feed them all the best food, treat them right, take them to the vet regularly and all around love our critters. That being said, our first day at our new home we lost our dog.
The day had been super hectic with lots of trips from the car into the house. At the end of the day we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out. When we returned home, we found our front door open (nothing missing, we somehow left it unlocked) and our beloved doggie gone. We were very worried, but remembered that he was microchipped and tagged. About 5 minutes later we remembered that we had recently changed our phone numbers and all of his information was to our old numbers. Panic ensued as we searched for him. It was dark and we live next to a large wooded area.
When it became too late to search anymore I looked for the local animal shelter. They have a fantastic website that allows you to file a missing or found animal report and they also post a daily video of the animals that came in that day. We did not see him on the found animal video, so I posted a lost report. Early the next morning I got a call from the shelter saying one of our new neighbors had filed found dog report. 2 minutes later we were meeting our new neighbors and getting our beloved doggie back.
We were very lucky. Most lost animals are not found so easily. We thought we had taken all the right steps to protect him, but somehow missed changing our phone numbers on his tag and microchip. Our whole family is very happy to have our dog back and will make sure to change his information when we change ours in the future. Remember, even the most well trained animals can disappear. Safeguard them so they can return home.
