Over the last 25 years I’ve been asked to respond to LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, JFK in NY, PDX Portland International Airport, SEA-TAC, along with several other smaller airports to track pets that have become missing from their transport kennels and airlines.
Here are some suggestions for clients who must transport their pets inside a kennel. And, for the airline employees who are looking for the missing pet.
Before you fly with your pet on a commercial airlines a few suggestions to make your pet’s trip much easier and safer.
Make sure the Kennel is large enough for your pet to stand up in, turn around in.
Lay down in. A few months before you fly, put your pet’s kennel inside their sleeping area with the door open and the pet’s bedding inside.
This helps the pet become more accustom to the kennel. Place the pet’s toys inside along with some kind of scent from the pet owner.
Before you fly with your pet, try to de-stress your pet by talking with your vet and maybe giving your pet some ace promizine. (Animal Tranquilizer).
Another way of calming your pet if it’s transported inside a kennel, is to leave some of your pet's favorite toys, rubber balls, chew toys, bedding, and a dirty sock or shirt inside the pets kennel. Make sure it’s toys the pet can’t choke on.
Make sure that you include a soiled piece of clothing that has your scent on it. Something you’ve worn all day, but not washed. Having your scent inside the kennel will help calm your pet.
Before you fly, the pet owner should microchip your pet. This would be a huge PR boost for an airlines if they were to help co-sponsor along with the Humane Society of the USA a major micro chip campaign.
In the Portland, Oregon area, we get about 3,000 dogs and cats back each year because the pet is micro-chipped.
NOTE: Once the pet is micro-chipped. Please make sure you contact the microchip company either by US Mail, telephone call, or on line, register your pet’s information. Breed, sex, age, date of birth, current home address and your next of ken along with your veterinarian’s information.
You should send a copy of their pet's medical records, rabies certificate, vet contact information, microchip info, a combed out sample of your pet's fir, and color photos from different angles of your pet, attached to the kennel.
This should be placed inside a clean paper envelope and then inside a plastic zip lock bag. Marked on the outside as PET ID. And taped to the outside of the kennel.
Should your pet become sick or escape, the airline staff and search and rescue crews like myself now have a scent article, photographs, and a great description of your pet to start our search efforts with.
Airline employee suggested procedures to recapture an escaped pet from a airline transport kennel.
If your pet escape it’s kennel, an airline employee can take part of the soiled clothing (sock, shirt) the client sent with their pet.
Have the employee handling the item wear rubber gloves, cut up the clothing left in the pet's kennel. Soak some of the items in a spray bottle filled with water.
Go to the area where the pet has been spotted and spray the area. Take the remaining pieces of cut clothing (scent) and leave it strewn about in the area where the pet has been hiding or seen. This may keep the pet in the area with their owners scent.
Poster the area in English and Spanish.
Call our professional K9 SAR tracking team in right away. Our web site info is www.k9sardog.com Office: 360-414-8093. Mobile 503-705-0258
For your staff here's what I usually send to our clients on how to search for their pets. Please have them follow our guidelines.
Steps Airline Employees should take immediately to help locate a client’s missing pet.
The airlines employees should search into the wind.
All pets that wander or hunt, head into the wind.
Airlines staff should notify their management right away that a pet has been lost from it’s carrier.
Airlines legal department should contact the pet owners as well as the pet’s vet, microchip company, and local animal control and register the pet as missing.
Staff should check all area hiding spots. Under baggage units, radar towers, inside warehouses. Near sources of fresh water.
Post signs in English and Spanish around the perimeter of the airport.
“Reward for safe return no questions asked”. Don’t state how much the reward is.
Staff should contact Airport security, TSA, airport ground operations services, airport management teams, and airport police and fire departments, as well as other ground staff. Alert them to the missing pet situation.
Make sure you send one of your staff to the animal control shelter in person every other day.
Don’t ever take their word at the animal shelter or humane society, “that they don’t have the pet”. Most are staffed with volunteers and many of the volunteers don’t have a clue on what the shelter has and doesn’t have in their possession.
Never give anyone or send anyone money until you physically see the pet and confirm through scanning of the microchip that it is the same pet.
Click on this URL: http://www.k9sardog.com/missing.html or go to our web site www.k9sardog.com then click on “finding your lost pet” section.
Read the info on scams as well as how to find your lost pet.
Should an employee spot the missing pet, don’t approach it. It’s in survival mode. Most are in psychogenic shock. The pet usually won’t even go to it’s owner at this point. Bring in a professional animal capture specialist from animal control.
One technique I used to recapture a scared dog that was lost from a vet clinic. I brought in my search dog and we tracked the dog until we located it in a dense wooded area. I then let my search dog off lead to go play with the scared dog. This helped calm the dog down. Then I got the dog’s owner on my cell phone speaker and had him call to his dog. Between my SAR dog playing with his dog and his dog hearing his owners voice, we were able to recapture the lost pet.
Read this web site’s information on avoiding scams.
Keep a journal of your search efforts and costs while avoiding fraud from callers and pet detectives.
Rain has no effect on scent. It actually helps keep the scent fresh. It livens it up and keeps it moist so the search dogs can smell it. It also keeps the search dogs nose scent receptor cells moist to they can absorb more scent.
“We’ve successfully tracked and found both missing persons and lost pets after 1 year’s time with their real search dogs”. Of course the sooner we respond and start our track with a real search dog the better our efforts will be in locating the pet.
Our search dog teams have a 97% success rate of either finding the missing person or lost pet or determining what really happened to them. Picked up, injured, killed, where, how, etc. 25 years of experience”.
We are not pet detectives nor do we want anything to do with them. We are real search and rescue k9 teams that use our search dogs to track missing persons and lost pets.
We’ve received dozens of complaints over the years from people who have used the MARS services, regarding their dog handlers from the M.A.R.S. (Missing Animal Response Services) units with their alleged pet search dogs.
I hope this helps you.
Good luck.
If you have any questions feel free to call or write us.
Thank You
Since 1988, I’ve performed over 1,211 Consults regarding missing pet cases.
I’ve personally performed over 5,400 searches for lost pets finding 2,891.
Mr. Harry E. Oakes Jr.
Search and Rescue Coordinator, instructor.
International K9 Search and Rescue Services.
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