Reporting a Sighting

The post above is a helpful one. There's an image and a clear location and sighting time.

TO BE MORE USEFUL AND HELPFUL the poster could visit Facebook and check local pages, and their local DogLost page, or other known missing dog sharing group, to see if such a dog has been reported as missing. In that case, it would be BEST for them to contact the dogs' owners privately, while posting 'PM'd you re a sighting' on the relevant page or group. We don't see unexpected messages from people we aren't 'friends' with.

BUT, posts like this are often seen by people on the way somewhere, who can't stop, and are dogs that have just got out, not even known to be missing, so the alert gets out fast and the dog is recovered quickly, OR those searching for a dog will see the post. Happy days.

POSTING PUBLICLY IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES because inevitablyit leads to well-meaning people rushing out to search. We all want to help, and we all want to be the one to bring that dog home to their grateful owners, because we know how we would feel. We just want our dog HOME.

Missing dogs are anxious, and often skittish, and seeing a stranger moving toward them can send them running further away. It's crucial for the SAR Team to be able to build up a pattern of sightings, to know the places a dog is moving between; they often use 2 or 3 spots for food, water and shelter, not staying in just one place. So if they get inadvertently moved on, all the work so far is undone.

HERE'S OUR TAKE ON BEST PRACTICE IN SIGHTINGS

IT'S CRUCIAL TO BE ACCURATE It's easy to make mistakes, very innocently. When MIlo was missing; a small, cream miniature poodle, there was a day when two separate people reported seeing him in the same village. I sent them photos of him and they were sure. We leafletted every house in the village. We set up remote cameras and feeding stations. I barely slept, watching the camera feeds on my phone. The foxes fed well that night.

The following morning I had a call. A local woman had been out until late, and her dog had been wandering. But her dog was a gold coloured, long haired, large Italian Spinoni.

The sighters SO wanted it to be Milo, whose plight was widely known by then that they 'saw' Milo. The good thing was, at least we now knew. Getting definite news, even negative, was useful.

Sightings are often very brief, and there isn't time to whip out a phone to take photos; you don't want to take eyes off the dog. But it's SO useful to have even blurry or distant images.

LOCATION REPORTING Open Maps and screenshot your location, then use the drawing facility to mark where the dog was and its direction of travel, if you can. OR use What3Words. These images demonstrate both approaches.

IF IT'S YOUR DOG THAT'S BEEN SIGHTED talk to your search team right away to decide on the approach. They may ask you to get to the location quickly. You can walk a route that would be useful for your dog to follow; plan this and don't wander too far; you want to attarct them to a defined area. If you then see your dog, they'll probably advise you to do the following:

Avoid eye contact, drop to the ground, talk gently, saying their name but not calling out, gently throeing high calue treats around you, and being very, very, very patient. Never grab the dog until you are 100% certain of securing them.

If you don't see them, the team may decide to place remote cameras and feeding stations, and scent articles [your unwashed clothing] in the location.

It's important for us all to know how to

• ask for sightings

• report sightings

• act on sighting information

KEEP THEM SAFE, BRING THEM HOME, EVERY SINGLE TIME