Triage.

Assessing and prioritizing cases so that we can help the most cats and dogs.

Triage and finding the best way to help the most cats and dogs.

When Mu found the kitten on the floor of the garage, underneath some car parts, he looked like he might be sleeping.  The little cat looked clean and unharmed, except for his unresponsive eyes.  A healthy kitten would have responded in some way to the presence of an 85-pound search dog sniffing at him.  I pulled Mu away and tied him to a post outside the garage.  I went and carefully picked up the kitten’s body, and found no signs of life.  He had been missing two weeks, but it seemed he must have died just recently, given that his condition was so perfect.  If his owners had known about us sooner and contacted us sooner, and if we had been available maybe just a day earlier, perhaps we could have saved this sweet little kitten.  When Mu found Cary hiding in a garage, two weeks after he had been hit by a car, I’m sure that Cary survived because Mu found him in time.  When Tino found the little Pomeranian, when the footprints of the coyote showed that it was tracking the little dog, it’s very likely that our efforts saved him from coyotes and traffic. If we had had to wait until the next day to come out, I’m not sure the little dog would have survived. Our services save lives, and at least once a week we have a request that we can’t get to in time, and the cat or dog does not survive.  The information in my head, and the search dogs and the traps and cameras, they don’t do any good if we can’t help in time.  It has been a consistent complaint that I have received for the 14 years we have been trying to save lost pets: people wish we were available sooner.  I know that I certainly wish I could help people right away.  I always want to help as many cats and dogs as I can.

To try to get help to the most pets, I have to triage the requests to try to figure out where our services are most likely to be helpful.  We receive over 800 requests for help each year, and this year it seems like we are in demand more than ever.  Also, Google has no category for what we do.  There are so few professionals who use search dogs to find lost pets that Google keeps lumping us into different categories, such as shelters, boarding facilities, and dog trainers.  In addition to the 800 plus legitimate requests for help we get each year, I also get at least 1500 phone calls a year from people who really want the services of an animal shelter, which we are not.  People ask to surrender cats and dogs to us every day.  People have questions for their local shelter, but shelter staff are busy and usually can’t answer the phone, so they call us with their questions because Google has us tagged for shelter services.  We get calls from people wanting to adopt a retriever from us.  People want to bring us rabbits or donate half a bag of dog food.  I can’t always answer the phone, but when I do, it is more likely to be a spam call or a call for shelter services than it is to be someone seeking a service we actually offer.  In addition to the calls, people will contact me a number of other ways, including sending messages to my various Facebook pages, or messaging me directly.  They will send text messages to either of my two phone numbers.  You can contact me at least a dozen ways.  I have to keep a spreadsheet of the dogs and cats that need help just so I can keep track of who needs what sort of help. I have to keep notes so I know who I’ve spoken to and what we said.

Besides our services at Three Retrievers Lost Pet Rescue, I also founded a nonprofit for stray dogs, Useless Bay Sanctuary, and a Facebook group for lost dogs, Lost Dogs of King County.  When we are notified about a lost or stray dog that we can help, I like to get out there as soon as possible.  Also, I have plans for many more books I would like to write, several of them partially finished.  I have a long list of books I want to read, too.  The house has a long, long list of deferred maintenance that I need to tackle.  If I had all the free time in the world, I would really like to spend a lot of time volunteering in the local park, preserving native plants and removing invasive weeds.  I don’t mean to complain.  I know everyone is busy.  My point is that on any given day I will have more requests for help than I can get to, and I need ways to try to effectively get the right services to the right people at the right time.

Starting this newsletter is one way I’m trying to get our help to more people: if enough pet owners knew about loss prevention and how lost pet search and rescue works, they could help themselves better when I’m not available.  Ever since I started Three Retrievers Lost Pet Rescue in 2012, my web page has offered free advice on finding lost pets for those times when people can’t reach me right away.  These free resources also explain what we do and how we work, to help people know if our services are right for their situation.  People often ask me why there aren’t more professionals in the area who do what I do.  It’s a good question.  I want to train more people to help find lost pets, but that also takes time.  I plan to offer a formal course this summer, and the stories in this newsletter will be the basis for that training.

If I have more requests than I can get to in a timely fashion, and if experience shows that our services can be life saving if we can help in time, how do I triage the requests for help in order to help the most cats and dogs?  There are many factors I take into consideration when deciding who to help in what order.  First, I try to judge who is going to benefit from our help the most.  For example, if I have to decide which case of a missing cat I should help first, and one has been missing for a week, and the other has been missing for a month, we have a greater chance of being helpful to the one only missing a week.  You might argue that the cat that has been missing a month is in more desperate need of our services.  That may be true, but in our experience, the search dog is far less likely to find the cat that has been missing a month. Another issue can be that we need to have permission to search on private property, and sometimes when I am available to search, we have to wait until the cat’s owner can get permission from most of the property owners within a 400 foot radius. If people want us to search for a lost dog, but they don’t have an item that has the scent of just the lost dog, and no other pets, this makes it unlikely the search dog will be successful.

I get requests from Argentina and Iceland, Qatar and Canada.  When time permits, I will try to help out of state requests with a consultation or email advice.  Requests from within Western Washington will receive priority because I can do the most good in local cases.  Another factor I consider is whether the person requesting help seems to have a realistic idea of what we do.  Some people contact us for help with the expectation that we will simply come out and find the lost cat or dog.  I wish we could, but it usually isn’t the case that the search dog and I are going to be the quick answer.  On average, the search for a lost cat or dog will take more than 80 hours of volunteer effort from family and friends in the first week.  Ongoing cases may take hundreds of hours of effort.  When we receive more than 800 requests for help each year, we can’t spend 80 hours helping each lost cat or dog.  A team approach is going to be most effective, where the family of the lost pet puts in most of the hours doing things they can do, and my dogs and I focus on the part that only we can do.

People can help us get the right help to the right pet at the right time if they provide complete and accurate information up front.  The best way to contact us is by filling out the contact form.  In the section for other details, it would help to know the location where the pet went missing, the circumstances of the escape, any health issues that could be a factor, and other things that might affect how well the search dog can work.  In order to keep track of who requested what kind of help, I have to keep a spreadsheet with method of contact and date of escape and other details.  When you fill out the contact form, it helps me get information into the spreadsheet quickly and correctly.  Depending on the level of help a cat or dog requires, I will usually start a file on the pet, with as many details as I can get.  If you choose to have a consultation, I will keep extensive notes.  When we come out and do a search, but don’t locate the lost pet, it is typical that I would photograph evidence and keep a record of what steps were taken.  The average case will have a spreadsheet entry, many pages of notes, and a file folder of pictures and screenshots.  All of this is accessible on my phone, so I can look at my notes when I’m out on a search.  If you picture how you have seen a homicide case or a missing persons case depicted on your favorite crime drama, it is usually displayed up on a board, with pictures and notes and diagrams.  It’s more cinematic that way.  I have most of that type of information on my phone where I can access it quickly and easily.  Also, a TV detective often works a case for weeks or months before solving it with evidence or deductions.  I will have an hour to maybe 8 hours to spend on a particular case before I have to move on to the next one, so that I can help hundreds of lost pets in a year.

While most of the content of this newsletter is available for free, there is also an option for a paid subscription.  Paid subscribers will have access to newsletter posts that have more detail, and sometimes might not be suitable for a wider audience, such as cases involving details of a predator attack.  Paid subscribers will also get a perspective on how to help people in difficult situations, when communication can be a challenge.  Starting today, paid subscribers will also receive two free consultations for their lost pet situations, if needed.  Of course, the hope is that regular readers won’t need our lost pet rescue services.  I have AAA, but I always hope I won’t need a tow truck or a locksmith.  My 5 dogs have health insurance that costs over $350 per month.  I hope I never need it, but considering that I spent at least $30,000 for veterinary care for my first three dogs, having insurance seems like a wise investment.  People who have a paid subscription to our newsletter letter will receive priority response, all other things being equal.

It is my goal with the paid newsletter subscriptions to even out some of the workload of helping hundreds of lost pets per year.  Hopefully, if you are a regular reader of the newsletter, you will practice loss prevention, and if you do need our help, you will have a better idea of what services we can provide.  You will be able to more quickly provide us with the kind of details that can make a difference.  In addition to accessing exclusive content, you may wish to subscribe to the newsletter for $7 a month or $70 per year as a kind of insurance, like AAA, so that you can get two free consultations if needed, and priority service as my case load allows.

The SubStack newsletter also provides for a Founding Member subscription at $210 per year.  This wasn’t my idea, but just how they have it set up.  If you do choose the $210 subscription, I do appreciate the extra support for my work, and if you ever need our search dogs, the $300 search fee would be waived, and you would receive first priority.

Quite a lot of my time is spent helping lost cats and dogs at no charge.  I try to keep an eye on the Lost Dogs of King County group and provide information and advice when I can.  Also, I often run out the door to help a lost dog that is reported in the area.  Whether you subscribe to the newsletter at the lower or higher rate, your subscription helps me provide assistance to others who don’t have the means to pay for professional service.

I am always looking for ways to help lost pets more effectively and efficiently.  I never like to learn that a cat or dog has died because we weren’t available in time.  I try to triage the requests for help so that our skills and knowledge have the chance to do the most good.  I think the subscriptions to the newsletter, along with the subscriber benefits, will help get the right services to more people sooner.  If you are not a subscriber, of course I will try to help you as soon as I can.  Either way, I ask for your patience and understanding if I’m not able to help you as quickly as would be ideal.

Sadly, there have been requests that I wasn’t able to respond to at all because I simply had too many requests at one time.  I sometimes have to choose which cases to take on.  If I wasn’t able to respond to you personally, I hope you will take advantage of all the information available on our web page and in the archives of the free subscription to the newsletter.  There is a lot of valuable information available to you if you take the time to read it.  I want to help each and every lost cat or dog, but there are times when I just can’t keep up.  If I didn’t get back to you in a timely manner, or if I didn’t respond at all, I apologize.  I hope someday to have trained many people in this work so that Lost Pet Rescue can be a resource available to everyone.

Yesterday, I was notified that there was a deceased dog on the highway. I couldn’t get details as to whether the dog was getting the proper attention, so we went to check, to scan for a microchip if possible. It turned out to be a coyote, which was sad, but there wasn’t a family I could return him to. On the way home, Tino and I stopped at a park to take a break and get some exercise and fresh air. Tino had a great time fetching the ball, keeping it away from me most of the time. A magnificent storm cloud rolled by, with a double rainbow. I could see the microburst drenching the valley. I took lots of pictures of the clouds and the park and, of course, Tino. I enjoyed taking a break with my dog, and I didn’t think about any lost pets for an hour. Mu and Tino, my search dogs, are truly amazing creatures, and I am remarkably fortunate to be able to share in their lives so completely. They are my family, my friends, and my work partners. They are gifted and quite often hilarious. As part of my triaging of cases, I also have to work in time when I don’t think about lost pets at all, when I just enjoy time with my dogs, watching clouds. I work at least 80 hours a week helping lost pets, and it is important for us to take a break now and then and just enjoy life. I try to take these breaks when there is a lull in the demand, but I don’t think there is ever a moment when I couldn’t be helping some lost cat or dog. Sometimes, an hour in the park becomes the priority of the moment.