Myths, Tips and Tricks
In the eight years she’s spent hunting for lost companion animals, Kat Albrecht has learned a thing or two about humans. For example, when people see a cat crossing a street, they rarely think to stop and “rescue” it. They imagine that it’s either someone’s indoor/outdoor pet or is feral. With dogs, it’s different; people are much more likely to intervene in the case of a wandering dog. Unfortunately, a well-meaning rescuer can make a bad situation worse. Here are a few assumptions and myths Albrecht says people need to check at the door.
 
• A fearful dog has been abused.
Albrecht points out that fearful behavior in a stray is often just a dog’s natural response to unfamiliar surroundings and the stress of being lost. The problem with this assumption is that rescuers might deliberately decide not to report a find, thinking they are protecting the animal from a bad home.
 
• Dogs roaming in rural areas or on university campuses have been dumped.
Albrecht calls this “guilt by location.” Rescuers assume the dog is abandoned and work to find a new home rather than locate the original owner. In many cases, the dog has just wandered off. (In some cases, dogs are deliberately “relocated” by, say, a neighbor in a dispute.) Rescuers should always assume a dog has been lost and try to find the owner.
 
• A thin, burr-covered, injured dog has been neglected.
A dog who slips his collar or escapes from a house or yard is subject to a lot of hazards, including being hit by a car, lost in the brush and starvation. Albrecht says: “Think lost, not stray.” Don’t write off the dog or the owner based on the dog’s physical appearance.
 
• A lost dog has been stolen.
It happens, but not as often as people think. The problem here is that owners, hoping for a quick resolution to a painful loss, go with the theft story and give up searching too soon. It’s not unjustified to search aggressively for as long as month, says Albrecht, who has seen persistence pay off.
 
If you discover a frightened dog…
We’re inclined to walk directly toward the animal, speaking in a slow, reassuring tone—but this is exactly what we should NOT do. The problem: You look and sound like a predator, and the dog feels like prey. Instead, approach the animal sideways at a 45-degree angle, and avoid eye contact. In the case of a small dog, Albrecht will sometimes lie on her back and pat her chest, as though calling the dog to play. Other times, she employs a “magnet dog”—her gregarious, dog-loving Whippet, Kody, can sometimes win over a frightened dog when she can’t.