Stop Pet Theft From Happening To You: Get Serious with these Expert Tips
Sophie in her backyard
I am over-the-top nutsy, crazy about little Sophie. She is such a light in my life and I’m so grateful for her being in my life. I know many of you feel that way about your dogs, too, so I know you’ll relate when I tell you this story. This isn’t going to be one of my light, fashion fare posts. Stopping pet theft is a serious subject. But because we are so in love with our animal best friends, I want to share with you ways to keep them safe.
I belong to a pet industry group of fantastic women, and its founder told us recently about how her dog wandered off and got lost on an outing in the woods. She was frantic, as we all would’ve been, and they searched and searched. Luckily, a good Samaritan found the dog a short time later, and realized she must’ve come from a nearby house. She was returned home, none the worse for wear, and the story ended really well. But oftentimes, that’s not the case. We know there are some really bad people out there, some of whom actually stalk vulnerable dogs to steal. Statistics tell us up to 2 millions pets are stolen each year and that 1 in 3 pets will go missing at some point in their lives. What we may not realize is that less than 20% of dogs and 2% of cats are ever returned home. Where do these dogs end up? In unimaginable places, from research laboratories to puppy mills, from dog fighting rings as bait dogs to ritual sacrifices for satanic cults. Very scary stuff.
The good news is there are things we can do to stop pet theft and protect our babies. I’m excited to tell you that Bark and Swagger has partnered with PetHub, the world’s fastest way to get lost and found animals home again, to bring you a great list of these tips.
To tell you a little bit about PetHub, they are basically a company of tech geeks who love helping animals. Founder, Tom Arnold, left Microsoft to figure out a way, using the most advanced technology, to better the statistics of reuniting lost pets with their owners. They came up with a truly revolutionary pet ID tag. They’ve really upped the game, too, because at the end of 2012, an analysis of hundreds of dogs and cats recovered through the PetHub lost pet recovery system showed that a whopping 97% made it home in less than 24 hours, 25% in under an hour! That is a great example of really making a difference!
What Does A PetHub ID Tag Do:
- the first to utilize a QR (Quick Response) code on a pet ID tag that links to a unique, easy to update online profile of your pet
- the first GPS locator system for lost pets. When the QR code is scanned by a smartphone, the location of your pet is pinpointed
- a 24/7 Found Pet Hotline, a completely free service
- the newest development – the NFC Chip, the same technology as the microchip will be embedded into your pet’s ID tag
I really encourage you to go to their website, www.pethub.com, read about who they are and what they do, and strongly consider adding your pet(s) to their registry and buying one of their ID tags.
Below, Bark and Swagger and PetHub have presented our Pet Prevention Tips in a colorful info graphic, easy to print out and keep handy. Hope you’ll find it useful. I hadn’t thought of some of these, so maybe you’ll see some you haven’t thought of, either.
What are your stories about close calls or have you had an experience with pet theft? I know it’s a very difficult subject but if you do want to share, will be here for you. There are some great resources now to help. PetHub is one. Do you have other tips to share about keeping our dogs safe? Please reach out and tell me about it.
Until next time…
Bark and Swagger is a proud affiliate of PetHub, so when you purchase from them via my site, I get a small referral commission, which goes towards maintaining this site. Entrepreneurs helping each other!
Hi Jody, thank you for talking about this unimaginable horror and methods of protection. However, I want to urge all to work towards stopping the “market”- -we need to stop all research on animals, end dogfighting and puppy mills punish dog thieves much harsher (kidnapping?) and strengthen dog abuse and neglect laws to truly solve this problem.
Take away the incentive and punish it. having said that, I will share my hypocrite’s story. i am that person who not only paid a ransom, but did not call authorities. Desperation removes “shoulds” , at least in my case.
The unimaginable happened to me during a situation with my mentally ill mother in So Calif. She left the door open while I was in the shower and my precious baby went outside to do her business as she does when i am there….in 10 minutes , she was GONE! I did not do the advice here, i did post i’d pay a large reward, as there were Mexican laborers working on the apts. my mother was staying in, in both English and Spanish. I went door to door, spoke to EVERYONE within 2 blocks, left flyers. Everything was a nightmare, the guilt, the anguish, the misery. I could barely control myself, I cried and cried and cried even more. I couldn’t sleep.
The next day , at 1:15 in the afternoon , i received a call from a restricted number. It was a Mexican man, who did not speak English.( Fortunately, i am bilingual.) He wanted money. I told him i would give him everything I had at that time-hundreds. He had me go to a store, and then called me when i was there to go somewhere else , probably worried about police, even though I promised no police. I went to that place and he approached me on foot from behind the building, he didn’t have my girl! He said give him the money and he’d get her, but I refused . I got in my car and held up the bills from behind the glass. He said wait. He left the same way and came right back with my precious hidden under his coat, He said he’d put her down when i put down the money on a curb in the parking lot. He was VERY skittish, I was so scared! I put the money down, he said move away i said give me my dog. We had a brief dance, until he put her down and she of course came running to me. The man snatched the money and ran.
My story had a happy ending, but i often wonder if i hadn’t had a good amount of cash what might of happened to my best furiend and “”manita.”
I believe this man had been working in the area and had noticed me walking my girl and saw our strong bond and how much I needed and loved her, and with an opportunity, took her for ransom. (Did I mention she is a service dog and wore her vest on those walks? I do not do that except when necessary now.) It’s easy to say don’t post a reward. But , when it happened to me, I would have given anything to have her safe at home. I took her to a vet, just in case.Thankfully, she was apparently unharmed-other than wanting to be with me even more than usual for a week or two.
I still have nightmares a year later
The incident also cemented that it was too much for me to help my mother directly.
Thank you for all you do to advocate on behalf of our innocent, voiceless friends. May our dogs never know of man’s cruelties.
Sky I am so so sorry about what happened to you and your baby, and thank goodness you got her back safe and sound. I can’t even imagine; makes my skin crawl. Yes, you are preaching to the converted. And, there will always be bad people in the world; opportunists looking to make a buck from your misery. The good news is there are people in positions of power and visibility working towards making it mandatory for breeders to have much better conditions for their dogs; for people to rate the place they got their dog from, whether a breeder, pet store, shelter so the good can be lifted up and the bad eventually be put out of business. Keep visiting; I’m going to be doing stories on all of this and I hope you will find them enlightening and heartening. Thanks so much for sharing your story, Sky.
I am the Vice President with CARE (citizens for animal rights enforcement ) of Santa Rosa County,FL
And we see all the time uneducated pet owners whom we try to educate just like yourself. I believe PetHub would be another great tool in trying to do just that!
As we are a dedicated group of people working to improve the lives of animals through education, advocacy, promoting adoption through networking and volunteering, as well as working towards the enforcement of stricter laws against animal abuse.
Thank you for all you do and for introducing us to help promote Bark &Swagger and PetHub.
Sincerely
Holly Wynn, VP
CARE of Santa Rosa County, FL
Wynnholly22@gmail.com
CareofsantarosacountyFL@yahoo.com
Find us on Facebook.
Hi Holly! Thank you so much for reaching out. What you and those you work with are doing; you guys are the heroes for animals. I’m really happy Bark and Swagger was able to provide information that was useful for you. I love PetHub as a company, product and the people I’ve communicated with there. It seems to be the only one that has all of the features for pet recovery in one place (hence, Hub, 🙂 ). And I love that they have a 24/7 found pet hotline. It’s apparently really helpful, because they have such a high rate of returning pets to their owners. I’ll definitely check out your FB page. Love to shed light on organizations out there doing the work to help animals. And thank you so much for spreading the word about Bark and Swagger. Really appreciate that! 🙂
Very informative, thank you!
I’m so glad you think so, Emma! What practices do you use to keep your pup safe? I just enrolled Sophie on PetHub.com so she now has a profile and I ordered one of their super cyber dog ID tags! 🙂
Great info graphic and great advice. That sounds like a good idea for all dog owners.
Great you found it useful! I found it empowering to learn there are simple things I can do to protect Sophie and I hope my readers will find that, too. They’re our babies and we want to keep them safe.