In the in the awful and unlikely event your sheltie gets away from you.   Here are some suggestions.

Shelties are such a "shy" breed, they are VERY hard to catch if they get loose. Even a normal friendly sheltie can become "wild" in a matter of minutes if they are scared and loose. They will NOT come to you easily. You must act quickly and persistently.

First......call US, then the police, animal control, and all the humane societies in a 10 mile radius. Then call all the vets offices in the area.  If the dog is hit by a car, a Good Samaritan may take the dog to a vet. 

NEXT, The most important thing you can do is make as many people aware of the dog as possible.  Immediately, have at least 200-500 16x20posters (depending on the size of the city) printed by a local print shop....in very bold print, that could be seen by a passing vehicle, with a telephone number of someone immediately available to check out a sighting. Don't even waste your money on smaller signs because they cannot be seen by passing cars! You want someone driving by to be able to see the phone number easily, so that if they spot the dog they could call from a cell phone. The posters should start from the point the dog was last seen, and radiate out 5 miles. They need to be EVERYWHERE. You must check the posters frequently, as people tear them down. Make sure they are at an angle that a moving car could read them. The more people that see the posters, the faster she will come home. Make SURE the posters offer a generous reward.   IF someone has the dog, it may take money to get her back.  Kids and greedy people will spring into action looking for the dog with a reward.

Fax your poster to all vets within at least a 20 mile radius, do a www.googlemaps.com search for vets in your area.  Do reverse streets phone directory lookup on www.whitepage.com  and call everyone in the last seen neighborhood.  Leave messages, getting the word out is important any way you can. 

Go on foot to every household in a 5 square mile area. Not everyone gets a newspaper, nor do they read the LOST ads. If you talk to them in person, they are much more likely to help you. Make sure they know to call with a sighting, rather than to chase her. IF you chase her she will run more. If there are signs out, attention is drawn to the fact that there is a lost sheltie. Then if somebody happens to see a dog they "will" pay attention, and almost always will try to help a lost "sheltie". Use the word "sheltie" on your advertising mode, but also in smaller print put "miniature collie"...because some people are NOT smart enough to know what a sheltie is. We care not about semantics at this point in time, call it a miniature collie!

If this dog was a timid dog to begin with...he will be hiding, petrified. When hunger finally overtakes fear, he will venture out of his hiding place. That is when the mass notification of the whole area will pay off. Then somebody will see him and call a phone number from a sign or one of those business cards. At that point somebody needs to GO, right then... because the dog is going have fear overtake hunger and go back to hiding somewhere.

IF the dog is hiding in a wooded area........gather up 10 people and comb the woods. Take a long pole and stick the brush, as she could be hiding in it. The danger here is the collar could be hung up on a branch and she may not be able to move!!!!!

This day in the age of computers it is easy to do your own business cards... make up cards with the dogs picture, the date lost, where lost phone numbers...and hand those out to children, people out walking their dogs, running, riding bikes etc. Sometimes they throw away flyers, where they'll keep a business card. Always put a phone number where someone is there all the time. When someone calls with a sighting, you must go NOW, not hours later...Dogs especially shelties do not meander around the same place usually, they seem to be "going" somewhere. Either back to their hideout or a new hideout. Lost shelties are in "flight" mode. If you think they will come to you when you call them, that has not been my experience. They see a human or a dog and they are gone....They don't wait to see who it is.

Once you have a sighting......get a live trap to the area. Most humane societies will loan you one. Kentucky Fried Chicken Breasts or Tuna works well as bait because the scent travels farthest!! Go frequently to release any captured critters that you didn't want to capture....like cats, possums, raccoons etc.

Be diligent in your search... Make sure everyone knows this dog is being searched for and continually be seen "searching" so if anyone does have the dog, they know you are not going to give up and go away! Many people love the idea of a free sheltie, and may think about keep the dog.

Words of advice from a dog officer - make sure you keep calling and bugging dog officers, humane societies, animal controls. Call, and go in every DAY. You MUST physically check the Animal Control facility and Humane Society yourself. Do not leave the decision as to whether a dog in the 'jail' is a border collie, aussie or a sheltie up to an inexperienced minimal wage per hour shelter worker. Some of them have no clue what a Sheltie looks like. It is the squeaky wheel that gets oiled!!! You need to be in contact with Shelters within 30 miles in all directions of you every day!!! Do not forget these. The dog easily may have traveled.

Talk to the local delivery people, mail men, oil companies, electric companies and make sure every one of them gets one of those business cards with the dog’s picture on it.

Seek out every child in the neighborhood (kids always know where the dogs are on the street) and give them a flyer or business card with your number. Post one at the school and play grounds. Have the kids spread the word about the REWARD. Kids will do allot for money.

Most importantly - lost dogs do not usually range. They usually stick to one particular area. Now, she might have traveled a couple miles before she got to that area, or she might be around the corner, but odds are if she's loose (and not stolen) that she's either with someone, or she's staked out an area. Make sure to look for her at her regular meal times. This seems to bring frightened/lost dogs out of hiding, being the creatures of habit that they are.

Rule of thumb, though - expand by one mile in each direction for every day she's been missing.

Mail flyers to all local vets (within 30 minutes driving distance)

Any animal control officer can tell you, scared dogs are really easy to miss. They can be five feet away and you'll miss them, because they freeze up like a rabbit. When searching woods......take a long pole and stir up all the brush. She could be hiding in brush. Try and think like the dog does. What does she like? Where would she be most likely to head? Is there another house/yard in the neighborhood similar to yours? She might be there. If she's crossed a street, she might have a visual barrier preventing her (in her mind) from returning. Follow the lay of the land - which way would you be most likely to go if you were she? Put one of your other dogs on a leash and see which way it's inclined to head for a general idea. One last thing - try a whistle (like a gym whistle) which carries a lot further than a voice and instantly catches a dog’s attention.

Also, if you suspect the dog may have been stolen, state that the dog is chipped (as previously mentioned.  Also, if it’s a bitch, that she is spayed. I put NEEDS MEDICATION in large print on my flyers and posters. And remember the reward. Make sure the reward is printed boldly. $500 to $1000 a small reward will not motivate people.

 

If you are thinking someone "has" the dog, because there have been no sightings...Two things. As you are driving around looking...Tape one of those large posters to the back of your vehicle, so everywhere you go, "people" know "somebody" is still looking for this dog, and is not going "to just go away!" Second: Try writing big red letters on poster "BELOVED Child's PET” Maybe you'll tug at someone's heartstrings if they think the dog belongs to a child.

Last.  Keep searching. Sometimes Shelties take months to find. Don’t give up.

HELP- My Sheltie is LOST