Designing an Effective Lost Pet Flyer

Designing an Effective Lost Pet Flyer

When your pet has become lost, responding quickly and efficiently is extremely important. One of the most important tools in finding your pet is creating a well designed flyer. Here are some key points. 

At the top of the page: 

In big, bold, capital letters put "Lost Dog" or "Lost Cat" or what ever animal your pet is. Use the whole line from right to left. 

Use a good, clear, color photo of your pet: 

The best photo to pick of your pet to use on the flyer should be one that shows any unique markings such as the color of the feet, chest, tail, face, length of coat and proper size. Make sure that the background of the photo is contrasting to your pet's color. For example, if you have a dark colored pet, the background should be light and uncluttered to show the outline of your pet. Pick a photo where your pet is standing up, rather than lying down since the standing position shows the full body more accurately. If you need to put two photos to show your pet fully, you can put them side by side, horizontally on the sheet. I don't recommend putting more than two photos since that tends to clutter the sheet. Finally, the photos should be the largest single item on the page. When people see the photos, they think "Is that the pet I may have seen or may see." Make sure that no other animals or people are in the photo. It is too confusing to figure out which pet is lost, and, plus, those photos tend to hide the pet behind other things and it can be hard to tell where one pet begins or ends. 

Basic description: 

Under the photo I would put a basic description of your pet. For example, put the coat color and length, their weight, breed type and anything else to help somebody identify your pet. 

Location and Date Lost: 

I recommend putting the location your pet was last seen and any confirmed sightings. Also put the date your pet was lost. 

Phone number: 

Put a phone number that you can answer 24 hours a day. Cell phones work best if you move around a lot. If you want to put a home number, make sure it can be forwarded to a cell phone for when you are not home. Also, make sure the number has voicemail with a clear message stating your pet is lost and to leave any information about your pet and a return name and number for you to call back on. Make sure you put a note on the flyer that people can call 24 hours a day with any information at all. Many people won't call after 9 PM or before 8 AM fearing they may bother you or wake you up. You want people to call anytime with any information, including possible sightings. 

Reward: 

I recommend to people to put the word "Reward" at the bottom of each flyer. I don't recommend putting a specific amount unless you are offering a very large amount, which would be over $1,000. If you don't put a specific amount, you have the flexibility to move the amount up and down depending on your needs. If you decide to change the amount, you won't have to print up new flyers and replace the old ones. Another option is to put "Large Reward" or "Very Large Reward" and then you still have flexibility to change it as needed. 

Computer or handwritten: 

I would always advise to use a computer and a basic word processor to create your lost pet flyer rather than handwriting your flyer and using prints. First it is easier, faster and more economical to print from a computer than to use a photocopier. Second a computer generated flyer appears more professional and authentic to people who are reading it. Third, type from a word processor is easier to read than handwritten letters, which can be inconsistent in shape and style. Fourth, with a computer you will be using digital photos rather than a print of your missing pet. When a physical print is used, the image will appear muddy and unclear on the eventual flyer, which occurs when a print is photocopied over and over. 

Use a full size sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper: 

You want the flyer to be as large as possible, yet still easy to create and economical since you may be printing up hundreds of copies. Make sure the format is "portrait" and not "landscape." This means design the flyer to be tall instead of wide. 

Use only white paper: 

Do not use any colored paper since this will distort your pet's photo and make your pet appear the color of the paper. 

The flyer should be simple, clear and uncluttered. I would not recommend putting any personal information like your full name, home address or work location or a child's name. Unfortunately, there are a lot of strange people who may target you for scams or prank calls. 

Finding Lost Pet Checklist Your Pet is Still Missing For Over a Month

Finding Lost Pet Checklist

If Your Pet is Still Missing For Over a Month

Keep:

Repeating previous steps

Shelters, ads, flyers

Extending search area out further and further like a spiral

Don’t give up

Your pet is counting on you to keep looking for them

Make sure microchip information is current if you move

Looking for a lost pet can be a very traumatic and frustrating situation, especially if initial efforts do not find your pet and your search extends into over one month.

Some common reasons why an animal may not be found after a month might be that the animal has been picked up and carried away or the animal may have traveled out of the area of the search, or the animal may be deceased and the body has not been found. 

When an animal gets loose, a common outcome is that somebody attempts to help the animal by trying to catch them. The person can be either in a car or on foot. If your pet has the type of personality where they may trust that person and go with them or hop not their car, this may allow the animal to be taken or transported away from the area. 

If the person is in a car, and that person is driving through the area, and does not live locally, they may wait until they get home or to their destination before attempting to contact the person if the pet is wearing a collar with ID. If the pet  does not have any visible ID like an ID tag, then that person won’t know who to contact, then that person may or may not know what to do or whee to look. 

From this point on, there are 100 or more scenarios that may occur. If your pet has a microchip, the finder may or many not check. Their decision depends on many things. If they really like this animal and have in the back of their mind that they may want to keep them, they can decide to not do an active search for the animal’s person. If your pet does not have a microchip, and no other ID, then they may decide that the animal is “abandoned,” “ a stray” or has an irresponsible person and that person doesn’t deserve the animal back. All of these things and more can go through this person’s mind if they find an animal without any visible ID tag. 

If your pet is still missing after one month, another common scenario would be that your pet has traveled out of the area where they are being searched for, and they are not willing to go up to a person for help. These types of animals typically will include cats without the super friendly personalities and the dogs who are shy and aloof and nervous of people. These animals can travel very long distances, sometime several miles in one day. They can be totally undetected, especially if they choose to travel at night. Even if these animals have collars with ID tags and microchips, if they choose to not approach someone and they don’t get injured or confined somewhere, they literally can travel to another county or even further. 

If your pet has not been found after one month, a third common scenario could be that they are deceased and their body has not been discovered yet. This would be more common in a rural or remote area where isolated areas and large predators exist. This could also happen in an urban or suburban area if you live near large parks with remote canyons and isolated hillsides, especially if these areas contain coyotes or bobcats or large raccoons. 

Typically in an urban area, dead bodies in the street are picked up within 24 hours by the city or animal control. However, I have also heard of small animals like cats and small dogs being disposed of by an individual in their own trash because they did not think to report it to animal control. In most cities, it is illegal to dispose of a domestic animal on your own. It is required to contact animal control for proper disposal. 

(Tell story of Sophia in San Francisco.)

Many jurisdictions also have a size requirement for all wildlife to be properly disposed of by animal control. For example, it is OK to toss a squirrel body into the trash, but anything larger must be removed by animal control. Also, since a lot of wildlife carry rabies, thee animals must be disposed of by animal control to ensure rabies is not transmitted. 

Even though your pet has been missing for more than one month, the chances of your pet’s recovery still remains very high, and the more you put the word that your pet is still missing, the better the chances that somebody will see the flyer or ad. 

Continue to search further and further away. The longer an animal is missing, the further away the search should continue. This means outside your neighborhood, outside your city, outside your county and even outside your state. See the section, “Creative Ways to Get the Word Out” for more ideas to spread the word. 

If you move during the search for your pet, make sure that your microchip information is changed. The reason why it is best to put a cell phone number on the flyer and on your pet’s information is that if you move, you can keep your existing phone number. 

The most important thing to do when searching for a lost pet is to not give up. Since we know that your pet did not get picked up and carried away by an alien ship, then we also know that your pet is still out there somewhere. As long as you maintain that your pet is missing, then when they are found, you should have little difficulty being able to redeem them at a shelter. This is especially pertinent if you pet has a microchip.

Finding Lost Pet Checklist: Your Pet is Still Missing After One Week

Finding Lost Pet Checklist:
Your Pet is Still Missing After One Week

Review everything on the first two pages again

1. Double check to make sure nothing was missed

2. What can be done better and more thoroughly?

Update the flyer

1. Make sure flyer says, “Still Missing.”

2. Add the date they were missing from.

3. Add the location (city and state) they were missing from since your flyer will now be sent out much wider.

4. Check to see if a better or clearer picture of your pet is available

5. If your pet was lost as a baby, state that he/she may look different and will be older.

6. Is the phone number turned on 24 hours a day?

7. Check original flyers are still up. May need to be replaced.

8. Check your city for codes for putting up flyers. City employee may have removed them if they are not allowed.

Double Check All Leads

1. Was anything missed or forgotten?

2. Were all leads followed through on, even all “possibles” and “maybes”?

3. Did any evidence not get checked?

Extend your search further beyond your immediate neighborhood and community.

1. Your pet could have been picked up or literally traveled to another area. 

2. Were shelters checked at least every couple of days? 

a. Were "found" and "deceased" books checked regularly?

b. Consider checking shelters further away.

Make sure your Craigslist and newspaper ads remains current and renewed

1. Put “Still Missing” in the ad and the date and location when they were lost

2. Make sure ad appears in both Lost and Found and Pets sections

3. Check these sections for "Found" ads. 

New Flourescent Poster Boards

1. Make new poster boards to put at intersections.

2. Do they need to be replaced?

Re-interviewing

1. Go back and talk to people who said they saw the dog

2. Somebody may have seen something else they didn’t initially say.

3. See if they saw anything they remember. Talk with anybody who may have been on vacation or out of town.

If somebody calls to say they have your pet

1. There are people who will say they have your pet, but they don’t. They want the reward.

2. Confirm they have your pet by asking for a photo sent to you.

3. Ask for a phone number to call them back to authenticate who they are.

4. Agree to meet them in a public place like a store or coffee house. Do not go to their home. 

Recheck thoroughly the immediate area like the house, yard and other buildings.

Was a pet detective used to track the lost pet? 

Was an animal communicator used to contact the pet?

Yahoo Lost Pet Groups

1. USA_All_Lost_Pets@yahoogroups.com

2. K9amberalert@yahoogroups.com

3. K9alert@yahoogroups.com

4. You can post your flyer or your dog’s photo

Start a free blog with Blogspot to help put all leads and updates

1. Go to www.blogspot.com to get started. 

2. This helps to let others know what is happening with your search

3. Flyers can be added for people to download right from the website.

4. Put all leads, phone calls, pictures, flyers, feelings and emotions.

Start a free Yahoo group to direct all search discussions and leads.

1. This is similar to a blog, but instead live discussions can be happening

Create a YouTube video to display various photos of your pet and distribute online.

Finding Lost Pet Checklist: Your Pet is Still Missing After 48 Hours

Finding Lost Pet Checklist:
Your Pet is Still Missing After 48 Hours

If 48 hours has passed and your pet has not returned to you, either coming home on their own or being returned by a person on the street, then something has happened to prevent them from coming home. Many different things could have happened and often times the animal has traveled a long ways from there they were lost. Sometimes animal get chased by other animals, or sometimes they get picked up by a human and get carried away, and other times they get into vehicles like UPS or mail trucks, contractor vehicles or moving vans. Another common way that animal become lost is when an indoor only cat gets out. 

Pets can involuntarily travel out of the area where you have been looking. One common reason is that they have been chased by a loose animal like a dog, another cat or a raccoon. Sometimes someone has picked up your pet and either removed them from the area where the flyers are posted or they are choosing not to respond to flyers or phone calls if they are still in the area where flyers and posters are put up. 

Another way a pet can become lost and instantly be in unfamiliar territory is if an indoor only cat suddenly gets out. It is similar to dropping a human on Mars or in another foreign country. Animals who become lost in this manner don’t have a frame of reference or a familiar home to back track to. They panic and will either hide someplace or they will just run. These animals can be difficult to catch or team or catch up with to while on a search.

When I am on a search with my dogs, we are following the scent of an animal, and the track leaves the area of where the initial search took place, the most common thing I hear from the pet’s person is, “I can’t believe that (my pet) has traveled this far.” Many animals do travel great distances when they are lost. When an animal is lost, like a human, they can easily panic and become very distressed and when this happens they run and run and run, often not accepting and avoiding humans who are friendly and trying to help them. This compounded day after day, causes the animal to travel long distances quite quickly.

Unfortunately, the people looking for the animal don’t expect the animal to have these reactions, and the flyers are not posted beyond the immediate area of more than a couple of blocks. There is a common myth that animals just “hunker down” when lost and hide, waiting for long periods, but that is wrong, and unfortunately, this is where a huge waste of time occurs when searching for the animal, and why animals don’t often get found for weeks. However, if your pet is wearing a collar with current ID tags and a microchip, then their chances increase to be recovered, even if they do travel long distances.

When an animal travels out of their familiar territory, and they become lost, then the situation can turn into a snowball effect. First, the animal starts to panic. Typically a panicked animal will run and avoid contact with anybody, even if a friendly person attempts to help the animal. If an animal runs in panic on a street, there is a higher chance of them being hit by a car. 

Some people will try to help an animal that they see loose on a road. If an animal is willing to accept help from a stranger, then the animal’s chances of recovery increase. If they have the type of personality that is generally friendly and outgoing, these pets will be move prone to approach a stranger for help, or accept help when offered. If your pet is more cautious and wary of strangers, and not willing to accept help from someone they don’t know, your pet’s chances of recovery will decrease, at least in the beginning of the search. I have found that if an animal is lost for an extended period of time, and they become more hungry and tired, they may be willing to approach a stranger or ask for help, which will increase their chances of being returned home.

In addition to an animal becoming lost in their own territory like from their own home, and then traveling and becoming lost and panicked, an animal can also become lost in a totally unfamiliar territory.  For example, if the pet and their people are traveling and the pet escapes somehow, or if these is a car accident while away from home, of if the pet s staying at a friend’s or relative’s house or at a boarding facility and the pet escapes somehow. 

Finding Lost Pet Checklist The Next 24 Hours

Finding Lost Pet Checklist

The Next 24 Hours

Check all local and surrounding shelters, both public and private, at least every other day

1. Your pet may have traveled or taken into an adjacent animal control jurisdiction.

2. Confirm with the shelter what their minimum holding period is.

3. Make sure you physically go to the shelter and fill out a Lost report with your flyer

4. Be sure to check the “Deceased” and “Found” books also

Put up large, colorful posters in key spots throughout neighborhood

1. These catch the attention of people driving back and forth in the area.

2. These are different than the flyers you hand out to people

Notify your pet’s tattoo and/or microchip registry

1. Make sure your contact information is up to date.

2. Call these companies directly. Most are open 24 hours a day for receive calls. 

Advertising

1. Craigslist: Both Pets and Lost/Found sections.

a. In order to put in two ads, just change the words around so it is not a duplicate.

2. Place an ad in local neighborhood newspapers. Also check Found ads.

3. Look at automated phone message services: 

www.Findtoto.com, www.LostMyDoggie.com

4. Look at post card mailing services: www.Petharbor.com

5. Use your car: post the flyer in a sheet protector on the back or use colored car chalk.

6. Place volunteers at key intersections holding large Lost signs and wearing “sandwich boards.” 

Check all flea markets and outdoor centers

1. Confirm with the organizers whether animals are allowed to be sold inside the market.

2. If animals are not allowed to be sold inside, ask if they are allowed to be sold outside the gates. 

3. Also, it needs to be determined if these rules are enforced or not. 

a. Check by walking around the market and see if animals are actually being sold. 

4. Post flyers for your missing pet outside all the gates of the market in case the pet is being sold beyond the view of the management. 

Change your voicemail to say your pet is missing

1. Make sure the voicemail states clearly that your pet is missing so people know they have correct phone number. 

2. Ask people to leave their name and phone number so you can call them back.

3. Ask people to leave specific information like where and when did they see your pet and if they attempted to catch them or not.

Check websites

1. See if your shelter list their found animals.

a. Some shelters list their found animals online or voicemail.

2. www.Petharbor.com

a. Sign up for automated emails for animals matching your pet’s description

b. Check the shelters on their list for their Found animals

3. www.Petfinder.org

a. Find the search engine on the left side of Home page

b. Put in “Dog” or “Cat” in the search engine and then your zip code

c. This will bring up all rescue groups: public and private in your area

d. Go to the hyperlink on the far right side and click to get to their main site

e. Send them your pet’s flyer in case your pet shows up at their group. 

4. Craigslist

a. Check both Pets and Lost/Found sections for ads placed by others who may have seen or picked  up your pet.

Using an Animal Communicator to help find a lost pet

1. My recommendation is Marta Williams ( www.martawilliams.com)

If your pet is spotted and won’t come to anybody

1. Try a feeding station. Multiple bowls of food are set out to attract your pet to the area.

2. Set up humane box trap with yummy food. 

a. These can be rented from your local shelter, purchased from home store, or rented from an equipment rental store. 

3. Walk the area laying your scent with your clothing, starting and ending at your home or a trap.

4. Leave their bedding or your clothing in an area to attract them. 

Finding Lost Pet Checklist: The First 24 Hours

Finding Lost Pet Checklist
The First 24 Hours

As Soon As You Know Your Pet is Missing

The first 24 hours that you know your pet is missing will be the most critical time spent looking for your pet. The sooner that you realize your pet is missing, the sooner the search can be started, which might make the difference in your pet returning home. 

Depending on the individuals circumstance of your pet’s disappearance, you may know immediately that your pet is missing or several hours may pass if you are not at home when your pet disappears. In any case, the sooner you start your search, the chances are higher for a recovery of your pet. 

Starting the search

What to bring

Bring with you their leash, favorite treats and toys to catch their attention. All out their name or whistle, which ever you think would draw their attention.

Where to look

Searching on the property

If it is a small animal like a rabbit, hamster or reptile, then first thoroughly check the house in all closets, baskets, shelves, vents cabinets, etc. 

If the animal missing is a cat then check all over the inside of the house in all known or possible hiding places like closets, attics, baskets and any small places. When checking outside, look under the house, in the garage, took sheds, all vehicles, garbage cans, storage bins, up trees and under bushes. 

Searching off the property

If it is determined that the animal is not on the property, and maybe a larger animal like a dog, livestock or large reptile like a tortoise, then start by going door to door in your neighborhood and have them check all the same above places on their property like garages, tool sheds and under their homes, then start by creating a flyer. 

If the animal missing is large livestock like horses, then immediately extend the search as far as possible to all neighbors, barns, feed stores, stable and auction houses. 

Creating a flyer

See a sample flyer for what critical information to put on the flyer

Enlisting the help of other people in the search

As soon as you discover your pet is missing, go out on foot or in a vehicle and  and go around the immediate neighbor hood looking for them. Check any known favorite spots like parks or friends’ houses. Check on routes where you commonly walk your pet, or places your pet has traveled to if they have gotten out in the past.

If multiple people are involved in the search, have them keep track on a map of who they spoke to, where they left flyers, any vacant, abandoned homes or empty rentals or anybody who many be on vacation. As people are out looking, ask if anybody knows of any commercial truck or moving vans that were in the area at the time the pet went missing just in case the animal got into this vehicle (Boo and Pippa).

When looking for a pet, the more people out looking and helping out the better, For example, as people are out walking and driving around, then somebody else can be making the flyer. As soon as the flyer is created and as many as possible are printed up, then these can taken out to the people looking on the street. 

In addition to finding your pet, you also want t try to be generating leads about sightings, When you speak to somebody and they said they may have seen your pet, ask them what time the day it was and what direction the animal was traveling. Also, see if you can get a phone number to recontact them later if necessary. 

Spiral Pattern

The search for the pet should follow a type of spiral pattern. Treat the last known location as the center of the spiral and then start spiraling out from there further and further.

Make sure one person remains at home

Make sure at least one person remains at home in case the pet returns. If have seen many cases where the animal returned home but nobody was there to let them back in, so the pet took off gain. 

Save any items that has only that pet’s scent on it for the use of a tracking dog

(see page about how to save a scent article.