Why we do what we do.
Why we do what we do
Our online training will be starting soon, in early August. The textbook that goes with the course, The Lost Pet Rescue Handbook, starts off with the first chapter being “Why I search for lost pets, and why you may want to.” Today, Mu and I searched for a lost cat, and we found evidence. Today’s search illustrates many of the reasons we search for lost pets. First and foremost, I get to work with my Mu. He is just an excellent dog, and a nice person to hang out with. He is smart and funny, and he likes to cause trouble sometimes, which keeps things interesting. He is also beautiful. Mu has found over 300 lost cats, either alive or not, and most of those cats would not have been found without him. Mu has made a huge difference in the lives of many cats and their people.
Before we started today’s search, the cat’s owner sent me a photograph of remains she had found behind her house, in the alley. I couldn’t tell from just the photo if the remains belonged to a cat or a rabbit. It was just part of a spine and the bones of two legs. I asked her to go back and take more pictures, if she was able, but scavengers had removed the evidence. Looking at the picture, I saw nothing that definitely indicated it was a cat, and statistically speaking it was ten times more likely to be a rabbit than a cat. She wanted us to come to the area and search, to either find her cat or find additional evidence to support or refute the theory that her cat had died for some reason. We set a time for the search, and she got permission from the neighbors to search their yards.
Today was cloudy and rainy, for the first time in 33 days. It was a relief to work in cool conditions, so Mu wouldn’t overheat. I worked Mu behind the house, along the alley, and in and out of woods along this right of way. After almost an hour of searching, Mu led me to several tufts of fur. The evidence was in the weeds, and there would have been zero chance of a human finding this fur with the unaided eye. After Mu sniffed at it for several moments, I asked him to step aside and wait while I took pictures and video and collected the evidence. It was a lot of fur, but a cat fight could theoretically have left that much fur behind. It did not appear to be a cat fight because the fur was from just the one cat, and because the fur did not have the signature loops in the fur that you would see if the fur had been raked out by cat claws. It was enough fur to suggest a predator attack, but not enough to be certain.
I took the fur back to the owner’s house. She said the fur was a match for her cat, whose fur was an unusual dark gray, not the typical gray and not black. It was the right length of fur to match her cat. I asked her to show me where she found the remains she had photographed. When she pointed out the location, it was not very far from where Mu found the tufts of fur. As we were looking around the area, I noticed a stain on the asphalt. It seemed recent. It wouldn’t be oil, because why would that much oil just suddenly spill right there and then slowly pool and seep. Also, it didn’t smell like oil. On closer examination, I could see that there was a wider area, with some splatter, and then the liquid pooled and slowly flowed down the gradual slope before it finally stopped, and then it evaporated or soaked into the asphalt. It appeared like it could be blood from an impact. The person who lived behind the gate at the end of the alley had a history of intentionally running over pets, and nearly running over some people. A picture started to come together, which fit the evidence. It seemed likely that this neighbor had intentionally run over the cat, leaving no skid marks to indicate any attempt to stop, and then scavengers such as hawks and raccoons dragged the body off the pavement and into the weeds. The cat’s owner had seen a hawk at the remains, and there was a hawk watching us at that moment.
As we were looking at the crime scene, I let go of Mu’s leash. He followed his nose down the slope into the bushes, and he found more fur. The fur indicated the cat’s body had been dragged under a chain link fence. On the other side of the fence was quite a bit of fur, much more than a cat would lose from just a fight of some sort. This new evidence fit in with the scenario of being intentionally run over and then scavengers finding the body. It would be hard to think of another explanation that would fit the evidence. The cat’s owner was very upset, of course, but she appreciated Mu’s work.
You might think, “That’s a horrible story, learning that your cat was run over by a nasty neighbor and picked apart by scavengers.” While that’s true, what would be worse would be never knowing what happened. Without finding the evidence, the cat’s owner might have searched in vain for months or years, always hoping her cat could come home. The evidence we found could only have been found by a search dog like Mu. Never in a million years would a visual search have discovered this evidence several blocks from the cat’s home. You could be looking right at the fur in the weeds and your eye wouldn’t register it. Only because Mu’s nose pointed it out did we find all of the evidence. Also, my role in the investigation was a little more that just being Mu’s chauffer. Because I have experience with more than 1500 lost cat searches, I could compare the evidence with past cases. I have come to know about the behavior of scavengers and predators. Also, I have looked closely at stains on asphalt more than anyone I know. The team of Mu and I, with our experience and training, solved a mystery that would have haunted the cat’s owner forever if she never learned the truth.
I was glad we could provide closure, if there is such a thing, for the cat’s owner. More importantly, we provided some justice for the cat. He deserved to have someone search for him, using the most effective methods. He was a loved member of a family, and his life mattered. He was murdered, essentially, and he deserved justice. Our work gave him a voice. We told his story. Mu and Tino and I serve lost cats and dogs. Although we are hired by their owners, our goal is to serve the animals, to provide them with professional services. Mu and Tino are animals that work in the service of other animals, primarily, with our service of humans being a secondary concern. We serve animals. Directly.
As you may know, Mu was chained in a yard as a puppy. I bought him for $100 to get him away from a life of neglect, and probably abuse. I didn’t originally plan to train him to search for lost cats, but he proved to have a knack for it. Mu has been my partner for 11 years, going on more than 1200 searches, and providing answers for more than 300 lost cats. Tino’s mom was found wandering in the mountains, and my experience with catching strays allowed me to catch her in a humane trap in a matter of minutes, when people had been trying unsuccessfully to catch her for days. Tino was born the next day. Tino learned to search for lost dogs, and he has found dozens of them, saving many lives. If I hadn’t trapped Tino’s mom, it is likely she and Tino would have died in the woods or on the nearby freeway. Because of my experience and knowledge of dogs, I was able to save Mu and Tino and give them jobs, careers, in the service of other animals.
I love Mu and Tino and Fozzie and Sky. Working with Tino and Mu gives me great satisfaction. Everything I learned from my initial training and from my 15 years of practical experience, everything I have learned from working with Mu and Tino, allows the dogs and I to serve animals in a way that very few people do. Roughly 100,000 cats and dogs go missing in Western Washington each year. I know I love my dogs like family, and I assume that’s the case with most of the lost pets. When you lose a family member, you want professional services to give them the best chance of surviving and returning home. If one of my dogs were missing, I would do anything I could to get him back, and I would want the best help possible. Knowing how much my dogs mean to me, I understand that all lost pets deserve competent, knowledgeable help.
We can’t help everyone that asks for our help with a lost pet. We get calls everyday, and we can only provide direct assistance to a fraction of them. We need help. The cats and dogs need help. I would love to train you to help find lost pets. It’s very likely that you have had some experience with losing a pet or with helping someone find their cat or dog. If you have been through the experience, you know that getting your family member back home is like being given a second chance in life. It changes lives. If you have thought about learning the best ways to help the greatest number of lost pets, I would like to give you the benefit of my experience and training. Maybe someday you will have your own search dog like Mu or Tino, and you will work together as partners to find lost pets.
Please comment below if you would like to sign up for the class, or you can join this Facebook group about the class. You can also email jim@3retrievers.com if you have questions.