What to do if your dog gets lost? Steps to follow

Let's hope it never happens to you, but if your dog gets lost, first of all, stay calm, because otherwise, you won't be able to follow the right steps.

When a dog gets lost, you'll need to check if it happened at home or on the street. If your dog gets lost around your house, in the area, try looking in its favorite park. Often dogs get distracted and return to familiar places and smells.

If your dog got lost on the street, keep reading, and we'll advise you on some simple steps to find it as soon as possible.

If your dog gets lost, stay calm

If you've come home and it's not there, nowhere to be found, try calling its name. It might have gotten trapped somewhere it can't get out of, or perhaps it hid because it heard a loud noise...

There could be multiple reasons why it doesn't appear at first:

• Ask other family members when they last saw it
• Use toys and its favorite treats to coax it out of its hiding spot
• Call its name without showing worry in your voice, gently.
• If it got trapped, it might be crying and whimpering for you to help it get out.

If your dog gets lost on the street, grab its vaccination record, microchip number, and a recent photo. The first 12 hours are very important.

• We recommend visiting its favorite places, its park, the areas where you walk, and places nearest to your home.
• Ask neighbors and shopkeepers in the area if they have seen it
• Call it by its name and all its nicknames. Bring its favorite treats for the search
• Report its disappearance to the local police; they will note its microchip and be on alert. Also, notify local shelters in case someone found it.
• Finally, make posters with its photo and your contact clearly visible and put them up in the area where it got lost.

• Post about it on Social Media: there are Facebook and Instagram groups that are usually quite up-to-date and post photos of dogs as soon as their loss is announced. They have a wide reach and are very effective.

Precautions to prevent your dog from getting lost

Pet ownership regulations in Spain require all pets, especially dogs, to have a microchip. In addition to being mandatory, it is essential because if your dog gets lost, a vet will be able to access your information and contact you to return it.

The greatest precaution to prevent your dog from getting lost is always to keep it on a leash, which, in the case of potentially dangerous dogs (PPP), in addition to being mandatory, cannot be extendable or exceed two meters. Furthermore, in the latter case, these animals must go out with a muzzle.

In addition to giving you basic advice on what to do if your dog gets lost, we want to share a very useful trick. It relies on using the dog's sense of smell, which, as we know, is its most developed sense:

•  On the same day your dog gets lost, go to the last place you saw it and tie one of your worn sweaters, impregnated with your scent, to a tree or a pole. You should tie it securely so it doesn't come loose easily. The goal is for the sweater to be infused with your own scent (which for your dog means friend, security, home...) and serve as an attractant to keep your dog in the area if it passes by again. This will increase the chances that it won't stray further and further in search of familiar smells, and therefore increase the chance of finding it. To prevent anyone from taking the sweater, you can put an explanatory note taped to the pole explaining why you left the garment there.

Tips to keep your dog from getting lost

• When it first arrives at your home, for the first few days, always walk it on a leash around your house, in the park, and areas near your home so that it becomes familiar with the places and especially the smells, and thus, can find its way back if your dog gets lost.
• Increase walking and playtime to reduce the stress of hours without you. Here you will find suitable toys for them.
• If you are outdoors, playing with a toy without a leash, stay as alert as possible: any smell, a loud noise, a female in heat... can cause your dog to run off and get lost.
• Never leave it tied outside a store; it could be stolen.

On the other hand, if you find a dog, take it to the nearest vet and they will tell you if it has an owner, or if it is a lost or abandoned dog. Also, notify the Local Police so they can try to find its owner.

We hope these tips are useful if your dog gets lost.

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