Thousands of dogs are lost every week, some by accident and others by just irresponsible pet ownership. Regardless of the reasons, I've asked myself over and over again "Where has the dog gone?" Only a small handful of the lost dogs are ever found and returned to their owners.

      In our small county in the last 3 months numerous dogs have vanished. Most of them small breeds or puppies. You just do not have dogs reported lost in a small community without someone finding them and reporting a found dog or a stray dog. Yet, no one seems to have seen these dogs. I have come to the conclusion that the dogs were either stolen or a supposed "pet lover" has kept the poor stray dog as their own, leaving it's original owners and their children to search frantically for their beloved pet. I have found that a lot of people who find strays refuse to call the "Big Bad Dog Catcher" because everyone knows that we kill every animal we get our hands on. I am not joking! I have had people think this! Whether they truly believe such nonsense or they are just using it for an excuse to secretly keep the stray dog, I really can not give you an answer.

      Over the course of my eleven years of being an Animal Control Officer I have heard some very bizarre happenings.

      A lady stopped by one of our gas stations just off the freeway and requested to one of the attendants that she wanted to speak with an Animal Control Officer. I responded and met with the lady. Her story was, that she had been driving in the middle of the night somewhere in Idaho, but wasn't sure what road or near what town, when she saw a blue heeler standing in the roadway. As a "pet lover" she immediately stopped and retrieved the poor dog so it would not get run over. Now, arriving in the southern part of Utah she has decided that she should turn the dog over to an animal shelter. She wanted to know if I would be able to find the dog's owner and return it..............I probably looked at her like she had two heads! I informed her in a very courteous manner, while biting my tongue, that it was not going to happen considering her vague description of where she had found the dog. She then asked if I would be keeping the dog to find it a home and not euthanize it. Now our county's population of dogs is either equal to or greater than our entire population of people, so I told her the odds of finding the dog a home were very slim and she immediately got upset and stated that "she would take the dog to California with her" and she left. All I could do was shake my head and wonder what would possess someone to pick up a dog "out in the middle of no where" and "in the middle of the night" and not at least go to the next town and make some effort to contact the sheriff's department on the found dog? I realize she was probably tired and in a hurry to get where she was going but if you are going to take the responsibility of picking up a stray dog you need to put forth the extra effort to ensure that it gets back to it's home.

     To this day I can't stop thinking that somewhere in Idaho, a farmer or a rancher with lots of kids is still wondering  "Where did his best friend disappear to?"

      I received a call from a lady in town who stated that her female Jack Russell Terrier was missing and she was unable to locate it. We searched for the dog for about 3 days and then the owner called and said that her dog had come home. Now this little Jack Russell Terrier was all white when it left but came home with black shoe polish on it where someone had painted large black spots on it's body and head and the tip of its tail to disguise it. We never resolved where the dog had been but it had apparently escaped from it's kidnappers.

      This same little Jack Russell Terrier turned up missing again about a year later. It had been wearing a red harness. Two days later I received a call from Mesquite Nevada's Animal Shelter that a couple had brought this Jack Russell Terrier, all white, female with a green harness into their shelter and stated that they had found it in our county and this was the first chance that they had to stop and leave the dog at a shelter. I notified the owner that her dog had been found and after about a 3 hour drive the owner was reunited with her beloved pet, however, she could not figure out why the dog had a green harness on when it originally had a red one on. Who knows whether this couple had the intention of keeping the dog and changed their minds, the different colored harnesses makes me believe that was their intention. About 4 months later the same Jack Russell Terrier turned up missing and has never been found.

      A Belgium Shepherd escaped her pen and was found by a trucker on the freeway heading northbound. He picked the dog up and took the dog all the way to Salt Lake City and left the dog at an animal shelter. This was 250 miles north of where the dog originally lived. The dog had a name tag on the collar and was micro chipped and the owner was notified and reunited.

     Amazing what an identification tag on a dog can do or a micro chip or just reporting the lost dog to the animal shelters for a "heads up" in case someone calls in with some information on finding their pet.

      I found a Collie/Shepherd mix, female, had the face like Lassie but the three coat fur like a Shepherd. Such a sweet, loving dog. She was on the frontage road next to the freeway pacing back and forth which is usually a tale tale sign that she had been left behind. I scanned for a micro chip and found one, which boosted my spirit. However, the owner had not updated the micro chip and it was still in the rescue groups name, which of course, had purged the records after 4 years so it was a dead end. Another rescue group took her to find her a good home, hopefully a "forever home" this time. So sad..........who left her? Where did she come from? Who is looking for her?

Where Have All The Dogs Gone?

If you find a dog, DO NOT KEEP IT!    IT IS NOT YOURS!  IT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU!  

      If you wish to keep the dog you must first turn the dog over to the nearest animal shelter where you found the dog and request that if the owner is not found you would like to adopt the dog. Animal Shelters would love it and possibly take pictures of the dog and let you foster it for the time period allowed for the owner to claim it!

     For more information on what you should do if you have Lost a Pet or Found a Pet

     The best preventive measure is to have your dog micro chipped at your local vets office. Also, buy a good sturdy collar and have a pet ID tag made up with your phone number on it. DO NOT put your dog's name on it! If someone is determined to keep your dog, giving them the dog's name makes it too easy for them. I have also observed that a name plate that lays flush with the collar, such as riveted or sewn on stands a much better chance of staying on the collar than a tag that dangles which might get caught on things and get ripped off.

      There will always be lost and never found dogs, but taking these extra steps will hopefully bring your best friend back home to you.