Bonkers, cocker spaniel

The "Trouble" with "Bonkers"
Karen Palmer, Balanced Canine Training
May 13, 2013

In early February, a man named Jere (as in Jerry) lost his ten year old, female black cocker spaniel mix named "Trouble". She managed to get off of a cable and wander from his yard on a cold, rainy night. She was wearing a collar with an expired license tag (which was also connected to an old, outdated address), was overweight, and overdue for a grooming.

At that time, I was in training to become a lost pet detective through Missing Pet Partnership. As he did not have a car, easy access to the internet, or much in the way of financial assets, I started helping him with internet searching and networking, shelter checks, creating and putting up signs, organizing phone calls to area vets, groomers, and adoption groups (I also made in-person visits as part of my regular business networking, and made mention of her then), and even doing some driving and footwork on reported sightings.

Thus far, we have not had any success in finding Trouble. But when we were doing some follow-up on those sightings, he told me that he would feel very good if he was able to catch a stray that turned out to be someone else's lost shaggy black dog.

On April 25th, a Thursday, a black-and-tan cocker spaniel female decided for the first time to take herself for a walk when her owner, Michael Nellett, let her off-leash in the backyard. Bianca (a.k.a. "Bonkers") was wearing a harness and collar with a tag given by a local veterinarian with her rabies vaccination. She disappeared quickly. He posted on his Facebook page and went to the shelter to report her missing. The whole family was distraught.

Meanwhile, another couple had picked up the dog, and having heard about Jere's missing dog, brought her to him in the hopes of making a match. Unfortunately for him, it was not his dog. But he was immediately determined to help this dog find her owners. He felt that this is what he would have liked his dog's finders to do, regardless of what had happened to her.

Jere called me and asked me what to do. As it was close to 4:30pm, and he had already notified the shelter, I recommended that he immediately walk to the veterinarian office about a block from his home and have her checked for a microchip. He was also to call the county with the information on the tag (which I thought at the time was a county license).

The found cocker was not microchipped, and the tag's information came up as belonging to a deceased dog. The owners of that dog said that they did not have a cocker spaniel. The next day, the finders of the dog texted me a photo they had taken of her. I put this photo in an ad on Craigslist, as well as on my business page, a local lost dog page, and statewide lost dog page on Facebook, and the local online newspaper. But that tag bothered me. It just didn't make any sense!

The next morning, I called Jere and told him I was on my way to town. First, I stopped at the vet clinic. The woman behind the counter was unfamiliar with the case. I then went to see the dog, and called her back with the number. As it happened, the number on the tag corresponded with TWO clients! The other was a former client, and I was given limited information. With some work on my smartphone, I found two failed phone numbers matching an address. So I took Jere and Bonkers for a short trip to the address. Alas, they had since moved away. I took them back to his house and headed to the shelter to make a report in-person. I also had the photo to email them with, and was assured that the email had gone through successfully while I was there. None of the shelter volunteers I talked with had heard of a lost cocker. I also made up a new flyer for Jere's dog, as I could no longer find his original, which had many dates on it and "still missing" from all of our previous shelter-checking efforts.

Later after returning home, I decided to return to the internet to do what I call "super-sleuthing". I researched the one name I had found earlier, which was “Cheryl Nellett”. I found that she was apparently married to a "Michael", and on one search page I found a link to his Facebook page. Why didn't I think to search for a name there before? I clicked on the link, scrolling down to see if there was any mention for a lost dog. Sure enough, there it was, and it included his phone number! I was literally jumping up and down, trying to catch my breath as I made the call. I was quick to tell him that she was found and fine.

Soon thereafter, the Nelletts were reunited with their beloved little dog, and I feverishly back-tracked to update my online ads with the “FOUND: REUNITED” news we all love to see. I texted her first finders with the news, and they were also elated. This marked my first “assist”, as I call it, to reunite a lost dog with an owner, and I am very pleased with that. Though it isn’t Jere who has his lost dog back, it still matters to Bonker’s owners!

Though Jere had spent two pleasant nights with a friendly cocker companion and is now feeling a little lonely again, he was very happy to help little Bonkers find her owners. He can only hope that someone, somewhere, is taking care of his little dog, too.

We learned a great deal from this case. I spoke to Mr. Nellett the day after their reunion to go over this story again and make sure that his family knows how to proactively protect Bonkers, just in case she ever disappears again. They were going to get her microchipped and registered, and get a new ID tag for her collar. Those two things would have helped her get home that first day. The tag should have the owner’s name(s), phone number(s), and address on it. The tag and the microchip registration must then be updated whenever the contact info. changes!

She was also going to be groomed soon, though I want to be clear that I never made assumptions about her care (and most importantly, her owner’s right to have her back) due to her shaggy coat. She had clearly been groomed previously, and it was just grown out. That said, having a well-groomed dog may help some finders believe that “someone loves this dog” or, “clearly this is someone’s house dog”. People are more likely to hang onto such a dog temporarily rather than quickly dropping it off with the shelter, and will work harder to find the rightful owner rather than keep or just give the dog away to a stranger.

It is important that pet finders refuse to make too many assumptions about the responsibility of a dog’s owners based on “circumstantial evidence”. Some people simply need an education. Sometimes the circumstances between the time of loss and the time of the find include conditions that owners have no control over. All owners deserve, and by law require, a chance to find their dog. In most cases, the law protects them through the mediation of the shelter system (in this county, all pet finders are required to notify the shelter within 48 hours). But pet owners must also be aware that even the best shelters can make mistakes, that all volunteers do not keep track of all lost and found pets, and that sometimes they cannot make the right connections. Even though this dog’s owners visited the shelter in person the day she was lost, and the first of two reports that she was found came in on that very day, the shelter did not make the match. Pet owners must make regular physical shelter checks and take more proactive steps outside of that system to find their pets themselves! Don’t rely on others to do all the work for you!

The internet is, in many cases, one of the best tools we have available because information can be posted, shared and received so quickly. Postings of lost pets can be made for free on Craigslist, and many who find stray dogs will look in the “pets” section and/or the “lost and found” section pretty quickly. A post on Craigslist, Facebook, the local newspaper’s online ads, and through any other internet sites should include a photo or two, along with the date and location of the point last seen, for the best results. Photos are easy to share and link to. Encourage online sharing (and flyer printing and posting) with all of your local friends to help you make that one important connection!

Most of all, don’t give up! Bonker’s owners may not have known what else to do, but if they continued to ask around, they would have heard some helpful advice from SOMEONE which would have eventually helped them connect with my efforts to find them. Never assume too much of a negative story, and never give up! And if you find a pet, think lost, not stray!

Source: http://gooddogowners.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-trouble-with-bonkers.html