By Kim and Tanya

On April 20th, Easter Sunday, our Yorkie, Lammi, went missing from our gated house on 128th street in north Seatac. If you’re like us, it’s something you never think about until it happens. It has been a heart breaking realization to learn how to search for a beloved pet. With the convenience of the Internet means a lot of convenient access to searching for missing pets, but with such eases also come equally as many hardships.

We were hopeful at first to locate Lammi by utilizing the following online resources:
• Craigslist.org
• Ebayclassifieds.com (which used to be Fijij)
• Facebook.com, (lost and found pets WA)
• Petharbor.com
• Nextdaypets.com
• Dogsoodle.com
• Joining pet blogs
• Small dog or Yorkie meetup groups
• Dog discussion forums

These are just a small list of places where we researched how stolen dogs can be relisted and rehomed for a fee and possibly shipped abroad.

Other more conventional methods:
• Driving/biking/running around neighborhood
• Visiting local pet venues, pet shelters, pet medical facilities, dog groomers, pet
• Signage/canvasing

We tried it all and with not much success in results. Thus, we began our journey of research and tips, which we hope might be of help to someone facing similar challenges, should you find yourself in such an unfortunate predicament, hopefully not ever.

The most easy-to-do tasks do make a difference! Bold, waterproof signs showcasing easy to read lettering and a recent high quality image (full body and accurate face photo) of your dog is critical. Register your missing dog at shelters, (going there in person is most helpful as dogs may not always be adequately described by a volunteer), if you have a micro-chipped dog, make sure that the chip is registered and status changed to missing pet, review Craigslist (lost and found/pets section and search for various types of small dogs (in our case), as many people can’t always gauge correctly a dog’s size, color, breed, sex etc…), utilize social media websites such as Facebook and online local community blogs such as HighlineTimes.com or petharbor.com…) to get the word out about a missing pet.

We are currently working with a reputable animal communicator, Hilary Renaissance and working with 3 Retrievers to track Lammi’s whereabouts, just in case. Tracing the trajectory of a stolen dog can be difficult and a retrieval service can be helpful if a specific location is determined so working with a pet communicator can be effective in determining this.

Some facts to know:
• A roaming dog is not a neglected dog.
• A dog that looks to be in poor health condition does not mean that its owner is physically violent and returning he/she back to the household would be toxic.
• A micro-chip requires the owner to register it for it to be active.
• It is illegal to keep a dog that has not been legitimately adopted.
• If you are looking to adopt a dog, you can strive to purchase legitimate pets needing a good home by doing some research and adopting a pet locally, visiting the house/shelter in person.
If you think you have seen Lammi, please contact your local pet shelter or contact us directly!