On April 23, the U.S. will celebrate its first annual National Lost Dog Awareness Day (NLDAD). Created by Susan Taney and Kathy Pobloskie – directors of Lost Dogs Illinois and Lost Dogs of Wisconsin, respectively – the canine-centric holiday aims to bring attention to all dogs that are lost each year. On a happier note, NLDAD also celebrates the thousands of lost dogs successfully reunited with their families.
Lost Dogs of Wisconsin (LDOW) is an all-volunteer organization created for the exclusive purpose of providing a free service to help reunite families with their lost dogs. With the help of popular social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, and their extensive connections throughout Wisconsin, LDOW is able to facilitate a statewide alert as soon as a lost or found dog report is received. By working to recover lost dogs, LDOW helps to decrease the number of homeless animals brought into shelters and animal control facilities, thereby preventing unnecessary euthanasia. Lost Dogs of Wisconsin offers an invaluable service when many feel helpless otherwise. The Lost Dogs mission has been so successful that the concept has been accepted and put into practice in Wisconsin, Arizona, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Colorado, New Jersey and Iowa under the umbrella organization Lost Dogs of America.
The tenacious efforts of these combined states’volunteers along with over 150,000 fans have helped reunite over 21,000 dogs with their families since 2010. Getting lost dogs back home reduces stress on owners’, staff at shelters/animal control facilities, other dogs in the facilities, and ultimately saves taxpayers’ money. It also opens up kennel space for truly homeless dogs.
“When a dog goes missing, most owners do not know how or where to begin looking. Our specially-trained volunteers make them a flyer to distribute and offer helpful support and advice tailored to their situation and locale. We also constantly remind the public that not all stray dogs are homeless and that there is likely an owner looking for a dog that has been found” explains Pobloskie. “One of our recent success stories was a lab mix named Abner. He was missing nine weeks during really bad weather. We never gave up, and neither did Abner’s owner. She read the articles on our website and followed the advice of her LDOW caseworker. Abner was successfully lured into the home of some kind Good Samaritans who patiently gained his trust. Never doubt a dog’s ability to survive.”
For more information on Lost Dogs of Wisconsin, please visit www.LostDogsofWisconsin.org or join the LDOW community on Facebook (www.facebook.com/findfido) and Twitter (@LostDogsofWisc).
If you are interested in starting an organization in your state, please see our website Lost Dogs of America www.lostdogsofamerica.org for more details.