PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

[BeeJay]

I feel very strongly that the voluntary lost dog organisations work well and it quite frankly disgusts me that paid organisations have come along to make money out of peoples distress and basically do no more than the free voluntary ones do. If I find out that anyone working for an organisation that is making money out peoples distress from losing their pets is posting on these missing dogs forums you will be banned. So if you are don't post here!

Can I ask anyone posting a missing dog on these forums to try to make sure that the description that they are giving of the dog is as accurate as possible. I know from personal experience that owners aren't always able to describe their missing dogs accurately. But for their sake question them closely and get the very best description of the dog that you can because that's what's going to reunite owner and dog. Don't just take what they say at face value question them to make sure that what they are describing is what you are thinking. There is NO point people looking for the wrong dog because they've got the wrong mental image of what the dog looks like.

Okay now for some posting rules.

1) Give the area where the dog went missing from in the title. So that it shows up on the main forum page. I know that a lot of forum members only look at dogs missing from their area.

2) Get the most accurate description that you can. This means, where the markings are, where the scars, if the tail is docked how long is it, if a height is given then find out if the dog is measured to the shoulder or no etc etc.

3) Running dogs are sighthounds or sighthound x's. Only post these on the missing running dogs forum. Sighthounds are, Greyhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, Deerhounds, Borzois, Salukis, Afghans, Whippets, Basenjis, Ibizan Hounds, Pharaoh Hounds, Cirneco Dell'Etna, Sloughis and Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

4) If you are working for an organisation can you please give the organisations name and contact details in your signature line like I do. Also can you please sign your name and not post anonymously.

If you've got to the bottom of this page then thank you for your patience. :huggles:

 

[bubblesgum]

I took the original alert from the Owner of Blue the whippet. That "blue roan" was the description the owner gave to me, when he phoned my home yesterday mornings. I did ask him if he meant a grey/blue as I have no experience of whippets or any other running dogs. He replied no....its blue roan, he told me Blue was 12 months old and had been missing since Thursday 8/01/04.

Now on another site, he told them Blue was 10 months. Today I spent several hours ringing around vets, homes, rescues. Managed to get through to Blue Cross at Bromsgrove, owner had told them the dog went missing on Friday and that Blue was actually grey and white. What am I supposed to do, question every person that calls me for help? They should know their dogs.

Did you realise that the same owner lost his Lhasa Apso the week previous again he gave me the description, silver and white, 18 months old named danny. Again

went to cross post it somewhere and the owner had again given different information, Gold Lhasa Apso, 8 months old named Vmann. I had to call him back to make sure that he hadnt lost two dogs. He then confirmed the dog was then

9 months old, silver and white and named Danny. He asked for help in tracking Danny and asked if he should take out the bitches (lhasa apsos) that were in season to tempt him. At this point I asked him if he was breeding and he replied no. When Danny was eventually recovered from a nearby rescue his wife called me and told me of Dannys return. We got talking and she dropped in the conversation that they do breed. I dont have a problem if dogs are being bred properly but what was the reason for lying in the first place.

Onto cross posting, I will cross post for any organisation whether it be Lost Dogs, Lurcher Search, Doglost, Petsearch and K9search. My main concern are the dogs that are out there lost or stolen. Just recently there has been too much doggie politics between sites, I came here because it seemed a site that had a lot of respectful dogloving members. In recent weeks I have been involved in the return of several dogs including the Blue Roan Whippet (recovered in Evesham earlier today). Not once have I heard of anyone paying any fees for my services, and just to make it perfectly clear I have not received any payments/rewards. If I am offered I usually tell the person to make a donation to their local animal rescue or hospital. Then the choice is theirs.

If you feel I am one of those that are to be banned then so be it, it wont be me that gets hurt or loses......its the missing dogs!

Jennie

 

[BeeJay]

Firstly I've edited the post that I wrote that will be pinned to this topic. As after reading your comments I felt that it was unnecessarily slanted towards yourself and led you to believe (and maybe others who read it) that all that I had said was referring to you. It wasn't.

>What am I supposed to do, question every person that calls me for help? They should know their dogs.

For their sake you have to ask, if not at least one person might be looking for a blue merle whippet x instead of a blue with white markings pure bred whippet. This is difficult if you don't know that a dog breed doesn't come in a certain colour. One of the reasons that LSUK was setup was that because they are a xbreed they are very difficult to describe and very difficult for those who aren't involved with them to judge. There isn't really a standard just a vague idea. Because I was involved in lengthy discussions with others about how to describe coat type etc I'm particularly honed in my thinking. Also I've taken literally 100's of missing dog descriptions. So I'm well used to asking questions about what the dogs look like. I had to often ring people back as queries came to me or others later. Mistakes are good because that's a useful way of learning. No one wants to make mistakes but they are going to happen.

When I mentioned cross-posting what I was referring to was when posting on this forum for people to put if the dog's description had been cross-posted ie didn't come directly from the dogs owner to them. This did not refer to crossposting from this forum onwards. As moderator I'm only concerned with the quality of the information placed on here. However I've removed this rule. It would be a pity though if people stopped bothering to read the messages due to obvious mis-information being given out.

>Just recently there has been too much doggie politics between sites, I came here because it seemed a site that had a lot of respectful dogloving members.

It IS a site that has a lot of respectful dogloving members. You aren't wrong in your viewpoint. My role as moderator of the missing dog forums is to try to make sure that people keeping wanting to read them hence my new rules. They don't apply just to you or are written with you in mind. They are written for anyone who wants to post in the forums.

Well done with helping to reunite those missing dogs with their owners. It makes it all worthwhile doesn't it. I'm glad that you agree with me over the issue of non-voluntary organisations cashing in on people's misery when they lose their dogs. There is a proliferation of them these days and they aren't anymore successful than the voluntary ones.

May you be involved in many more successful reunitings.

 

[bubblesgum]

To be honest I do lack expertise, but Im sure with all the practice Im getting just lately it wont be long before I am as knowledgable as your good self. I have pmd

you my telephone numbers and if ever you need any help please be sure to call me.

Heres hoping for more reunited dogs :thumbsup:

 

[Lydia]

:thumbsup: , excellent information Bj :thumbsup: . Having only helped slightly, with G.R.W.E., I do appreciate why accurate descriptions are very important.

Unfortunately, a lot of the dog owning public do not describe coat colour or height well. There are a lot of exceptions, but also a lot of incorrect information. You do need to treat all distressed owners as being a complete imbecile, and question accordingly :unsure: .

Unfortunately, dog wardens that I have spoken with/read their descriptions of missing dogs in their area, can be completely incorrect as well.

When our local council, advertised the "dog warden post", it was part of a job, that involved rodent control as well as other duties, the dog warden part of the job, was very minor. If this is true for other councils, then we unfortunately, have some dog wardens, who do not have a clue regarding dogs.Need to say here, that our dog warden is actually a brilliant woman, who does a very good job with regards to dogs in the borough.

A classic that I witnessed on t.v., regarding not a dog warden, but Battersea Dog's Home, was when a Skye Terrier was brought in. A staff member from Battersea picked this terrier up, and brought into Battersea, as the "heavenly breed", walked accross our t.v. screen, my hubby said " that's A Skye". I replied yes, and Battersea staff said, "what is that ? "some sort of strange x ?" "lets cut it's hair!!!!!"

I was shocked at them, luckily, someone, did realise they actually had a pure bred Skye Terrier in their hands, and, I beleive the dog was re-united with it's rightfull owner.

I am using this example, to emphasise, that even with knowledgable rescues/dog wardens and the dozy general public, Bj's insistence on questioning.

Lost and found pets is very hard work, can be very soul destroying, but also very rewarding.Unfortunately, if descriptions are not accurate, there is less chance, of a pet being found/returned to it's owner.

I am only adding my input on this, for those reading these posts, that are unexperienced with this part of dog ownership.

keep up the good work Bj, I know that you spend hours a day, assisting owners with lost pets, every day. You're a o .

Lyd