Okay, you’ve lost him. He slipped his collar, or ran out of the open gate; He was spooked by lightning and jumped the back fence; You dropped the leash, or you let him run off lead, he saw a squirrel and suddenly he was gone. How he was lost doesn’t really matter now: What matters is the steps you have to take to get him back. He’s out there and he’s depending on you to find him. He’s lost and can’t find his way home. It’s been a couple of hours now: You’ve scoured the neighborhood, and you are hoping to see him in every yard and around every corner. But, you are beginning to realize that you can’t find him. Here’s what you have to do:

Change your mindset: This is most important, and most difficult step. You have to stop checking every street and back yard yourself, and start recruiting an army to do it for you. Most greyhounds are found within a mile or two of where they were lost, but a two mile radius is nearly 13 square miles, an impossible area to search adequately alone. You have to stop looking for your dog, and start looking for people. Everything that follows depends on it. With every hour that goes by, your chances of finding your dog, on your own, diminish. You now have to find someone who has seen your dog. You need a sighting and in order to get a sighting , you need help! Ask everyone you know, including your friends, co workers, adoption group and son’s cub scout pack to help you. Don’t wait until tomorrow, do it now.

Get the word out: Whether you have help or not, you’ve got to get the word out about your lost dog. You and your volunteers are going to search yes, but while you’re searching, you’re going to post flyers on every available telephone pole, in every super market, drug store, school, church, police stations, vets’ office or any other public place surrounding the area. Ninety percent of lost dogs who are found, are found because someone saw a flyer. The flyers don’t have to be fancy, but get them printed on the brightest,most fluorescent paper available. “LOST GREYHOUND” In big letters.”If sighted please call (555)555~5555 ” a silhouette of a running greyhound works great as an attention grabber. 500 of them is a good start, but you may need more. The area should be so saturated with flyers that you can’t turn around without seeing one. Don’t expand your search area until you’ve totally covered the area where he was last seen.