If you have lost a dog there are a few key things you can do to give yourself the best chance of recovering your pooch. Wishing you the best of luck in the search for your lost pet – all fingers and paws are crossed!
1. Search everywhere especially open spaces where the dog is walked. If anyone in the locality has taken her (in) they will still have to walk them. 
2. Phone your local animal SPCA group.
3. Report your dog missing to the local Garda stations
4. Phone the Dog Pound (every day).
5. Advertise in the Buy&Sell paper or on the BuyandSell.ie website offering a ‘reward’, don’t say how much, but several people have reported this worked for them (with purebreds, etc that were stolen).
6. Place ads in library and churches.
7. Visit neighbouring houses in the locality and let your neighbours know.
8. Stop everyone with a dog to ask them to watch out.
9. Place ad in your local paper and on the local radio station in their classifieds section.
10. If you are fortunate enough to find your dog remember to take the notices down. It will also be decent of you to inform and thank those who helped in the search.
11. Contact the county council in your area, they all have a service which collects animals who have been involved in motor collissions. Very sad to think of at this early stage, but it is better to know who to contact than not.
12. Contact vets in the area and leave details with them.
13. Always post a picture of your dog in all local Garda stations. “We just gave them a report and when we eventually found our dog, the people who found him had him a week and reported to the guards on a regular basis but we still didn’t hear anything from them.” You can not rely on communication between shifts and other stations so you are best to go to each station and ensure a poster is in place.
14. If you have other dogs, bring them out with you when you are looking for the lost one – they will smell their housemate much sooner than you will see him/her, and they will leave a scent that may help the lost animal to find their way back.
15. Make as many posters (with a picture if possible) as you can and stick them up at bus stops, pedestrian lights, petrol stations, supermarkets, corner shops… anywhere that people spend a bit of time. We live in a soggy country, so laminate the posters if possible.
16. Expect hoax calls – “there are some nasty people out there – but follow everything up nonetheless. You could try leaving out one particular piece of information about your animal from the poster/flyer, just to check if the person calling has actually seen him/her.” If someone asks you to collect the animal from an address, bring someone along with you.
17. Show a picture of the dog to lollipop ladies and kids – kids are much more observant than adults!
18. Post the details on www.ispca.ie and other online lost and found pet websites.
19. It might be an idea to take out an ad for a week in the Evening Herald classified section. (Found ads are free). Lots of people read the Herald for the classifieds, Tel: 048 37 516 516. If you can afford it, advertise in the Irish Times.
20. Consider having your dog Microchipped in case of something similar happening again.
Adapted from an Article titled “Lost and Found” on the Cavan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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