SCOUT: Searching for and Rescuing Lost Canines

Two Colorado women joined forces to help locate lost dogs, not just loose canines, and use counter-intuitive techniques that recovered their own pets.

Unlike searches for missing humans where hordes of volunteers may scour properties in masse calling out an individual’s name, these women advocate a quieter approach so as not to scare off the canine. They say their approach works much of the time.

Dana Dreczka of Colorado Springs, CO defines a lost dog as a canine so panicked that it views humans as predators. It may have escaped from rescue transport vans, new homes, or while on vacation with their humans in strange areas. She knows firsthand the need for helping people find lost pets- those with severe trust issues or in survival mode, perhaps having run away after being involved in a car accident.

Stephanie Weber of Lakewood, CO says “Our protocols and strategies are specifically targeted to assist lost dogs: canines who are traumatized (by a car accident) or rescue dogs not well socialized (new adoptions, rehomes) or dogs who are scared and missing from fosters homes. These dogs have forgotten how to be a dog and are often in survival mode- they are truly lost not just a loose dog. They act more like a cat than a dog at that point.”

“They are frightened and view humans as dangerous,” she adds.

SCOUT

The women, who met on canine rescue missions in Colorado, decided to join forces to help rescue, scared, fearful dogs that are truly lost. They formed the nonprofit, Southern Colorado Observation & Unification Team (SCOUT), named after to lost dog they called Scout, in 2017 and now have four teams of volunteers-about twenty individuals- who live along the Front Range of Colorado. They “assist or coach” between thirty and forty searches a year. Over the past five years, they have helped search for about 200 dogs, with most being recovered successfully,the women say.

Stephanie notes that they search for lots of  Siberian huskies, and Malamutes, breeds known to wander and Shepherds that love to run. SCOUT’s purpose is not only to coordinate searches for lost dogs but also “to educate the public and dog owners on how to prevent the need for searches and what not to do in case your dog escapes and becomes truly lost.”

The non-profit’s techniques are much different from an approach of an average dog owner who chase and yell for their dog or even other  lost dog volunteer groups whose attempts often focus on chasing or trapping dogs, says Stephanie, who has fostered an estimated 200 dogs over the years. She also has two dogs of her own with medical and/or behavorial issues making them almost impossible to place.

SCOUT may be contacted- via word of mouth or Facebook. Frantic owners ask for help. Dana and Stephanie also watch social media and reach out privately to these owners when it seems “that they are going to need some specialized coaching or assistance based on the dog or situation, “ Dana says.

SCOUT first collects detailed information about the dog’s backstory, the circumstances of the canine becoming lost, and whether it is wearing tags, microchipped, altered, and crate trained. They also consider behavioral and breed traits.

SEARCHES

Dana and Stephanie coach and educate rescuers, fosters, and owners on how to search for their lost dogs. They may do so onsite in the area where the dog is missing and sometimes electronically from their homes. They’ve coached or helped search for dogs in  Nebraska, South Dakota, and New York. The women always:

1. Establish a communication team that includes the primary volunteers working on the search. Some volunteers are experienced, others just joined in on the search in the area, and others include friends of the dog owner.
2. Send rules and protocols relating to safety of both the humans and dogs in the field. Although not affiliated with or trained by the Missing Animal Response Network, the women share resources including Kat Albrecht’s calming signals video.
3. Assign tasks, including putting up signs and canvassing homeowners in the area.
4. Require team members to check in and out before going into the search field. They  must have a specific purpose or task. These tasks include social media posts and monitoring those posts, posting flyers, setting up trail cams with food and scent stations, caregiving duties, etc.
5. Instruct team members and educate the community to Stop, Drop, Observe, and Report when and if they see any lost dog.

Stephanie and Dana track every detail of a search on a Google map, including the dog’s last location and all the sightings. They try to deduce the dog’s routine and hence the placement of food and scent stations.  The women say It’s important not to jump in your car and scour neighborhoods on foot and yell the canine’s name to find your lost dog because those actions tend to push the canines farther from the spot where they were lost.

They may ask a SCOUT volunteer or canine owner to go to the last spot the dog was sighted, put up a trail cam, and sit with yummy, high-value smelly treats to introduce the dog to the person assigned as the caregiver. Lost dogs hide and watch from a distance. The volunteer or owner needs to be seen as a caregiver and not a hunter. Once the lost dog discovers the food or scent station, the caregiver refills the food station on the same schedule every day. It may take days until the dog becomes reassured that the volunteer isn’t a predator but a food source who offers nothing that frightens the canine, the women explain.

If the dog is spotted on a trail camera or returns to the food station on a regular schedule, the caregiver remains quiet and stationary to earn the trust of the dog. This routine may take days for the untrusting escapee to choose to come close enough for the volunteer to slip a leash around the dog’s neck. SCOUT’s motto is “Dog gets to choose when, where, and who!” when they come to safety.  SCOUT teams are desensitizing dogs to humans while they are lost. After a lost dog settles down, it may choose to follow passersby with a dog and follow them into an enclosed area. In many cases, the lost dog chooses safety with a person other than one of the search team members.

PREVENTION TIPS

To help avoid the worst-case scenario and help find your lost canine, SCOUT recommends when you bring a rescue dog home that you:

• Stay at home with the dog for the first week to give the dog time to bond with you. Leash the dog when you exercise him, including potty breaks, to prevent him from scaling a fence or getting through an unlatched fenced-in yard gate.
• Use two points of contact- two leashes or a leash and a harness when you walk the dog outside for a week so the dog gets accustomed to its surroundings.
• Be sure the dog is microchipped and the microchip company has your updated contact information.
• Crate train your dog- for safety in the car and if he gets lost- so he will be more easily trapped if necessary.
• After a week, slowly introduce your new ward to the neighborhood by taking him on short walks with two points of contact.

Stephanie believes it takes about three days for your new companion to start to adjust to its new surroundings/life, three weeks for him/her to settle in and become comfortable with you, and three months before he/she becomes bonded to you.

She suggests owners can provide a safe environment by

• Bonding with your dog
• Teaching basic commands
• Microchipping your dog
• Considering using GPS or Apple apps
• Keeping good photos of the dog (face, full-standing body, etc.)

WORST CASE SCENARIO

If the worst happens:

• calm down
• ask for help from experienced lost dog volunteers instead of everyone on social media
• make a poster with a description or picture of the dog. Include information as to where the dog was lost and include your contact information
• Post the poster in neighborhoods within a three-mile radius of where the dog was lost and at each dog sighting location, animal shelters, and veterinarian offices
• Don’t include the dog’s name on the poster
• Don’t chase your newly adopted dog

Not all their searches are successful, Dana notes. Taz, a now seven-year-old Norwegian Elkhound escaped from his fenced-in backyard  in Peyton, CO when a pooper scooper company left a gate open. Six months after his escape, SCOUT became involved in the case and Taz was soon spotted on a trail cam set up by the team at a ranch. For months Taz came to eat every day where food was provided. SCOUT then prepared to set up a “Missy Trap,” a large trap with a sensor that causes a gate to close once an animal enters the enclosure. At the same time, the rancher brought in 500 head of cattle near a barn and Taz stopped returning to the area.

A year and a half later, he remains on the go and is occasionally spotted within twenty miles of where he was lost. SCOUT still tracks Taz and informs his owners of any potential sightings, etc.  This led Taz’s owners to adopt another elkhound after visiting the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region to ensure the Elkhound at the shelter wasn’t Taz. Behr became part of their family as the couple still awaits a reunion with their beloved Taz.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

Both Dana and Stephanie learned the hard way about searching for lost pets.

In 2013, Dana and her family adopted Ferguson, a black and white medium-sized Aussie-Pit Bull mix from Pals Forever in Colorado Springs. They weren’t told he’d had four different fosters/owners before she adopted him. And he had fear aggression issues, which also went undisclosed to the first-time-ever dog owner and her young family. The nervous dog jerked his leash out of the hands of her son when they arrived at their Colorado Springs home immediately after the adoption and galloped off.

Dana says she soon learned that dogs running after new adoptions is the number one reason for lost dogs.

“I didn’t know what to do. He ran away. We had no bond with the dog. A friend recommended calling  National Mill Dog Rescue and a representative suggested posting signs and putting flyers in mailboxes,”  Dana recalls. That’s what she did. She recovered Ferguson seven days after his escape thanks to one of her posters.

Almost a decade later, Ferguson is a beloved family pet who has competed in agility and nose work with Dana!

Stephanie had lived in rural Nevada where she often helped rescue runaway dogs lost from vehicles involved in accidents on a nearby interstate. She also helped search for ranch dogs that had run off but the community search teams, on horseback and ATVs, weren’t very successful, she recalls.

Soon after she moved to Seattle, her year-and-a-half-old white and black cat named Rowdy became lost. She talked to animal rescue groups and learned about the techniques of Kat Albrecht from Missing Pet Partnership’s Calming Signals. See: https://www.missinganimalresponse.com/lost-dog-behavior/

Rowdy was recovered. Stephanie then moved to Colorado and created the Lost and Found Dogs of Colorado Facebook page which she administers.

For more information about SCOUT, email Dana or Stephanie at ColoradoDogScout@gmail.com

To learn more about lost dog resources, see:

Unit#4: Calming Signals for Panicked Dogs / Kat Albrecht
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmiZzB643is

Missing Animal Response Network
www.missinganimalresponse.com

Apple AirTag®
https://www.apple.com/airtag/

PetHealth / Found Animals Registry (Formerly Michelson Found Animals) – FREE lifetime microchip registration
www.foundanimals.org

AAHA Microchip Registry Look-Up (online tool)
https://www.aaha.org/your-pet/pet-microchip-lookup/microchip-search/

Lost and Found Dogs of Colorado
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lostandfounddogscolorado

PHOTOGRAPHS:  Courtesy of SCOUT