Such an important topic and fascinating to hear that a country has ZERO strays! WOW! Which means that somehow, every household in the Netherlands has managed to keep their dogs contained in their homes / yards without any of them escaping, becoming involved in a car accident and taking off in a blind panic, having a dogwalker fall on the ice only to have your skittish dog take off dragging his leash and vanishing, or the mirad of ways that dogs (at least here in North America) become lost on a daily basis. I write about lost pet recovery work (I'm a pet detective and I train other pet detectives, some with tracking dogs trained to track lost pets) so I know a lot about strays. Strays are NOT just a result of uncontrolled backyard breeding, dumping or abandonment of unwanted dogs, or born in the wild "feral" dogs. While some strays DO come from these sources, the vast majority here in North America are ESCAPED / LOST dogs. The moment that your dog escapes from your care, its identity is changed from a "my beloved dog" or "companion animal" to a "stray" and it is treated differently! When rescuers find these dogs, they assume the dog has been DUMPED and they fail to try and find the guardian who lost the dog. When that dog ends up at a shelter, it is held for 3 days and is cared for, but not much is done (except check for a tag and microchip) to FIND THE GUARDIAN who lost the dog. It is a catch-the-dog and WAIT for 72 hours until the dog is then available for adoption, and that becomes the priority--to give the dog a "forever home." In many cities across the USA, Animal Control Officers (ACO's) no longer respond on loose / stray dog calls unless the dog is contained. Panicked dog owners (those with a strong human animal bond, or HAB) are DESPERATE to find their missing dogs but they are not trained in how to use a catch pole, a snappy snare, a humane trap, or Calming Signals to calm and attract a dog. These owners go to the animal shelter, which should be the FIRST place a found ("stray") dog is taken, but anymore it is the LAST place it is taken due to the fear of euthanaisa. And shelters don't help search for lost pets--except to give you advice that is outdated and mostly ineffective, certainly not species-based. Species-based lost pet recovery advice is CRITICAL because the methods used to search for and find a missing dog are completely different than those that should be used to search for and find a lost outdoor-access cat, and those two scenarios are completely different from how you should look for a displaced cat (i.e. and indoor-only cat that escapes outdoors). Um...I just realized that I am rambling, but I am passionate about educating people about STRAYS! We all see them--we all need to know what to do when we encounter them. I wrote a post recently about the critical importance of NOT calling a stray dog when you see it. I hope you're OK with my novella here and with me putting a link to that post. I SO look forward to learning more from you Dr. Sammi! https://armedrobbers2airedales.substack.com/p/do-not-call-a-loose-stray-dog?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Great story, thanks.
Bravo Sami!
I love your writing! So succinct, and keeps me wanting more!
🩵🩵🩵
Thank you, Maggie! I'm so glad you're enjoying it and I appreciate your support!
Such an important topic and fascinating to hear that a country has ZERO strays! WOW! Which means that somehow, every household in the Netherlands has managed to keep their dogs contained in their homes / yards without any of them escaping, becoming involved in a car accident and taking off in a blind panic, having a dogwalker fall on the ice only to have your skittish dog take off dragging his leash and vanishing, or the mirad of ways that dogs (at least here in North America) become lost on a daily basis. I write about lost pet recovery work (I'm a pet detective and I train other pet detectives, some with tracking dogs trained to track lost pets) so I know a lot about strays. Strays are NOT just a result of uncontrolled backyard breeding, dumping or abandonment of unwanted dogs, or born in the wild "feral" dogs. While some strays DO come from these sources, the vast majority here in North America are ESCAPED / LOST dogs. The moment that your dog escapes from your care, its identity is changed from a "my beloved dog" or "companion animal" to a "stray" and it is treated differently! When rescuers find these dogs, they assume the dog has been DUMPED and they fail to try and find the guardian who lost the dog. When that dog ends up at a shelter, it is held for 3 days and is cared for, but not much is done (except check for a tag and microchip) to FIND THE GUARDIAN who lost the dog. It is a catch-the-dog and WAIT for 72 hours until the dog is then available for adoption, and that becomes the priority--to give the dog a "forever home." In many cities across the USA, Animal Control Officers (ACO's) no longer respond on loose / stray dog calls unless the dog is contained. Panicked dog owners (those with a strong human animal bond, or HAB) are DESPERATE to find their missing dogs but they are not trained in how to use a catch pole, a snappy snare, a humane trap, or Calming Signals to calm and attract a dog. These owners go to the animal shelter, which should be the FIRST place a found ("stray") dog is taken, but anymore it is the LAST place it is taken due to the fear of euthanaisa. And shelters don't help search for lost pets--except to give you advice that is outdated and mostly ineffective, certainly not species-based. Species-based lost pet recovery advice is CRITICAL because the methods used to search for and find a missing dog are completely different than those that should be used to search for and find a lost outdoor-access cat, and those two scenarios are completely different from how you should look for a displaced cat (i.e. and indoor-only cat that escapes outdoors). Um...I just realized that I am rambling, but I am passionate about educating people about STRAYS! We all see them--we all need to know what to do when we encounter them. I wrote a post recently about the critical importance of NOT calling a stray dog when you see it. I hope you're OK with my novella here and with me putting a link to that post. I SO look forward to learning more from you Dr. Sammi! https://armedrobbers2airedales.substack.com/p/do-not-call-a-loose-stray-dog?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2