Hopefully, you won’t ever find yourself in a situation where you are out and about, one second your dog was by your side and the other second you can’t find him anywhere. Nobody intends to lose their pet but it’s something that does happen mostly due to easily preventable oversights.
It happens to even well-meaning owners who are extra careful about their pets. This is why, even if you are the safest dog parent, you should make sure to take some precautions to decrease the possibility of losing your dog. There are various ways to go about it and you can combine some of the strategies to your liking.
Get A Collar with ID Tags
Although very important and obvious, some people still forget to put a collar on their dog with an ID tag. It’s vital that you get a secure collar for your dog and with that, you can add an ID tag. If you attach a loose collar it can fall off or wear down. You should check up on the collar from time to time to check if it’s in proper condition.
Don’t opt for a tight collar either, look for a good fit to keep your pet comfortable. Find the balance between comfortability and security. ID tags are the most common method of securing your dog and preventing it from getting lost. It makes it easy for people to identify your pet when it’s lost and get your contact information from the tag.
Microchip Your Dog
Over the years micro cheap has prevented many dogs from being lost. Thanks to technologies a microchip can be implemented into a pet’s shoulder area. It is a harmless procedure and the chip contains the owner’s contact information that can be read using a scanner at most animal shelters.
If your dog ever ends up getting lost and animal shelter or vet picks him up, they will be able to scan for the microchip which will contain your contact information. The process of getting a microchip implanted into your dog’s body is also painless.
The ASPCA recommends that you have your pet chipped. An ID tag is very important for all pets, however, if your pet runs out of the house without an ID tag then the chip will always provide secondary protection against losing your dog.
Sometimes the collar can fall off while your pet is running or going through narrow corners which makes the microchip much more prevalent. This is why it’s always important to keep ID tags on your pet as well as a collar and a microchip.
Don’t Leave Your Dog Unsupervised
Supervision implies that you don’t leave your pet out alone for too long like leaving your dog at a dog park while you are further away or, leaving your dog alone in a car for a bit too long.
Pets get bored pretty fast and many of the lost dogs are just bored pets who couldn’t sit around in a car or a single spot for too long while their owner wasn’t there. Many pets also get stolen each year and surprisingly from the same places. When you are out with your pet, use a leash, and keep an eye on your pet.
Emphasize on Training your Dog
Dogs that are trained have less probability of being lost or ending up at a shelter and it’s not because the dog is better-behaved as the training classes provide owners of pets with useful pet safety information reducing carelessness.
Such carelessness leads to your pet being lost so the training not only teaches your dog to heed to commands, it teaches you how to be more careful with your dog and the dos and don’ts. Trained dogs are also more likely to listen to a command given by you instead of wandering off and getting lost.
They also come back when called by name and can walk comfortably while on a leash. The training also provides the owner and the pet with more things to do together. This way the dog is less likely to get bored preventing him from wanting to run off.
Spay/Neuter your Dog
It is an important procedure to prevent overpopulation while keeping more and more dogs from ending up in shelters every day. When dogs aren’t neutered especially male dogs, they have a high tendency to seek out other female dogs which are due to their natural instinct and reproducing behavior.
This increases their proclivity to search for female dogs for their reproducing needs and end up lost. Neutering your dog makes him calmer and more reliable, preventing many of the behavioral problems. Likewise, with the female dogs, they also can be spayed and it will remove their temptation.
Pay Attention to your Dog
It’s a simple act but a vital one. It’s also important for young children to get attention from their parents if not, it affects their personality into their late adulthood. Dogs aren’t very different in that regard as it affects them too but in different ways from how it affects us.
Not paying attention and not giving your pet the appropriate attention, he deserves is the best way of losing your dog. Paying attention to your pet is perhaps the easiest way to prevent it from getting lost. When you take your dog out for walks remember to pay close attention to him and his surroundings.
Sometimes in unfamiliar locations, your pet’s behavior might change and the best way to prevent ant accident is to give your pet some attention, pet it and let it know it’s safe. Don’t leave your dog tied to a bench or a bike rack or parking meter while you are busy with something else.
It’s a horrible practice that you should always avoid as your dog can easily slip off of his collar and even worse, get stolen. Pets getting stolen is a much more common phenomenon than you might think. Keeping an eye on your pet is essential for various reasons, knowing when to pay attention to your dog will go a long way.
