Finding a lost dog's family: DIY version

You walk out of your home one day and see a dog trotting down the street. On closer inspection, you don’t see an owner and realize the canine must be on his own. After carefully approaching him, you check for ID tags with a home address or phone number but don’t see any. Now what?  

Your first thought may be to take Fido to a shelter, like ours at Better Together Animal Alliance. However, shelters don’t have to be your first choice for stray pets. There are many steps you can take to reunite lost dogs with their families all on your own.   

In fact, we encourage all residents to do their due diligence before contacting us or their local shelter. It’s better for the dog, who doesn’t have to spend time in the shelter, and for the facility’s staff, to ease the burden of caring for another animal.   

In addition, by taking just a few steps upon finding a dog, you can likely reunite Fido with his owner more quickly than if you brought him to the shelter right away.   

First, knock on doors in the area where you found the animal. It’s possible the dog didn’t get far from home and you found him early in his escapades. Neighbors may recognize him, even if you don’t find the owner.   

If that doesn’t yield results, you can take Fido to one of our area's many microchip scanning locations, which include veterinary clinics, fire departments, and more. Even if the canine doesn’t have a physical identification tag, he may have a microchip, which is essentially a digital ID tag, implanted just under the skin. (Note that microchips are not GPS trackers.) Staff at locations with special scanners can detect if the animal has a microchip, and if so, read the chip number and then look up the contact information registered to it.  

No luck? Don’t give up yet. Now it’s time to widen your search and get the word out about the lost pooch.  

You can quickly and easily create a found pet post on Better Together Animal Alliance’s website. Other resources exist for this as well, like the Petco Love Lost database.  

Then you can share these posts on social media and area pages— the more local, the better! Post in Facebook groups, Nextdoor, and Craigslist lost and found boards, and encourage others to share as well. 

Finally, it’s time to do things the old-fashioned way — by hanging physical flyers outside. This is still an effective method of spreading awareness about lost and found pets. You can follow the same tips for found pet posters that the Missing Animal Response Network recommends for missing pet flyers: Make sure they are large, bright (ideally on neon or fluorescent paper) and brief (without too much text).   

Now it’s a waiting game to find the owner. In the meantime, you can foster the dog yourself! You can get in touch with us at Better Together Animal Alliance, and we can provide you with the supplies you need to temporarily care for the pup.  

If you are unable to care for the dog until the owners are found, or if you don’t have success in finding them after some time, you can call us to schedule a surrender appointment.  

Like any shelter, at Better Together Animal Alliance, we can’t help pets without the support of our community — and we know our community will step up in times of need.  

If you find a lost pet, text STRAY to (833) LOV-BTAA to receive tips via text. More tips and resources are also available at bettertogetheranimalalliance.org/lost-and-found-resources.

Andrea Nagel is the director of storytelling and partnerships with Better Together Animal Alliance.