Frequently Asked Questions

A:   Handler and search dog would meet you at the location where your pet was last seen. The owner of the lost pet would need to contain a scent article specific to the lost pet. Do your best to chose an article that your lost pet used often like their favorite toy, a toothbrush or a blanket for example. This scent article should be placed in an unscented sealed plastic bag to avoid contamination. Using this scent article, a search dog would be directed to pick up scent and then to search. Pending the end result of the track, an action plan will be formulated to follow.  

A:  Every track is different. Some animals travel a far distance and some are just a few houses away from home. The personality of your lost pet, the cause for disappearance (chased another animal, got scared of a loud sound, was lost from a sitters home, etc.) and the duration of time your pet has been lost has the most impact on an accurate answer to this question. 

A:  This is not a problem. A well trained dog will be able to familiarize himself with all animal scent within the home and the search dog will be able to determine which scent (animal/pet) is missing. The only request/requirement is that all other pets are home at the time of the scheduled track and contained in a crate/carrier. It is important that a scent article belonging to the to the missing pet be stored in an unscented and sealed plastic bag.

A:  No. Rain (pending terrain), snow or humidity are all good for a search dog. Moisture will pack scent down or keep it from fading. Think of a warm spring day when it first begins to rain. We can smell asphalt, flowers, etc so much better. Elements that work against tracking would be time, severe flooding that causes significant run off or excessive heat. A professional K9 handler will properly evaluate your case using the time that has gone by and weather during the time your pet has been lost to determine if they can be of assistance in your search.

A:     It is suggested that a track be the first step taken when a pet goes missing. Unless you are getting frequent sightings. ALL steps are important. But it is suggested to pin point a direction of travel so the correct area can get posters up, drones will know where to fly  and/or a trap can be set up in the correct area opposed to setting traps up randomly or putting posters in an area that you think your pet has possibly traveled.

A:  Absolutely! In an effort to get any sightings at all, posters need to go up immediately in hopes of getting sightings. DO NOT depend ONLY on social media. Although it's a very helpful resource, just the same as all lost pet assistance resources, you cannot depend on only one. Not everyone has social media, not everyone belongs to lost and found pet pages. But if you work with a lost pet professional, getting posters up in a determined area will certainly be extremely productive. Allow a professional to assist with your poster. LESS IS MORE.

A:     It is suggested that a track be the first step taken when a pet goes missing. Unless you are getting frequent sightings. ALL steps are important. But it is suggested to pin point a direction of travel so the correct area can get posters up, drones will know where to fly  and/or a trap can be set up in the correct area opposed to setting traps up randomly or putting posters in an area that you think your pet has possibly traveled.

A:  Absolutely! In an effort to get any sightings at all, posters need to go up immediately in hopes of getting sightings. DO NOT depend ONLY on social media. Although it's a very helpful resource, just the same as all lost pet assistance resources, you cannot depend on only one. Not everyone has social media, not everyone belongs to lost and found pet pages. But if you work with a lost pet professional, getting posters up in a determined area will certainly be extremely productive. Allow a professional to assist with your poster. LESS IS MORE.

A:    It is not common to come up on a lost pet in plain sight. Most of the time a lost pet is frightened and hiding. I have learned from personal experience, when a lost pet does not want to be seen or heard, they will not be seen or heard. The most beneficial way to use a search dog is to get a direction of travel, narrow down an area your lost pet is hiding, or determine if your pet has been picked up in a vehicle for example. Lost pets also will occasionally run further away if someone they are unfamiliar with (search dogs and handler for example) enter their safe zone. It is very important for the K9 handler to be able to read their dog and know when they are getting close to the target/lost pet. The handler should pull back and prevent the search dog from getting too close to the lost pet in an effort to keep the lost pet from running further. NOT ALL LOST PET SEARCHES WILL BENEFIT FROM UTILIZING A SEARCH DOG. When you contact a lost pet professional it is important that they evaluate your individual situation and determine if they can be a beneficial tool for your lost pet search.

A:  This is a question no handler can truly answer without accounting for circumstances a lost pet owner may not view as being "successful". If they answer you, they are making up a number to simply answer your question. If you handle a true working dog, a properly trained tracking and trailing dog, the dogs success rate, in my opinion, should be 100%. But that rate is based off of one thing - a clean scent article. A search dog/tracking dog has one purpose and that is to follow the scent their handler asks them to follow. Just a couple circumstances to consider: Was the pet found alive? Did the search dog lose scent due to the lost pet being picked up?