My name is Joan, I’m a retired civil servant and I’m married to a lovely man who is also very fond of animals.  We currently share our home with two Siamese cats.  We both grew up with dogs, cats  and a menagerie of other animals, and there are plenty of dogs cats and house rabbits within our extended family and circle of friends. In the UK we live in the beautiful county of Devon, but we spend several months of the year in an equally scenic part of France, The Charente / Dordogne, accompanied by our cats of course!

I joined Dogslost uk having become aware from posts on Facebook about the increasing number of pets being stolen or going missing.  I have only ever had a pet go missing for a few days and can honestly say that my world was turned upside down and I would never want to repeat the experience.  As we are both retired and have few commitments, I thought that while we were at home in Devon, we could help in some capacity in any search for dogs / pets missing in our local area.  It hadn’t occurred to me that I could also help when we are in France, or anywhere else for that matter!

I often log in to Dogslost UK in the evenings, while watching tv or while sitting in the garden, whether in Devon or France.  I often look at FOUND dogs to see if there might be a match with dogs that have been missing for some time. The clock is ticking for found dogs….they can legally be rehomed if they haven’t been claimed by their owner within 7 days.  That’s why it’s so important for microchip and tagging information to be kept up to date.

So, after a very nice lunch in Angouleme, South West France on 9th September, sitting in the garden relaxing, I logged in to Dogslost UK and came across a post about a little French bulldog (no details if male or female) found in the street in Bishop Aukland, some 850 miles away.  Having looked through the photos of all missing frenchies registered on Dogslost UK,  I had a nagging feeling from looking back and forward at the photos for the found frenchie and photos of missing female LIBBY, that they could be one and the same dog.  Their colouring and physique was similar, but more specifically, the size, shape and position of the ears was the same in both dogs. I placed a note on the pages for both dogs asking if Admin could check a possible match with Libby’s owner as it wasn’t possible to trace the owner of the found dog from it’s microchip data.

I was delighted to hear a couple of days later that it was indeed Libby, and she had been reunited with her family after a very long 2 years and 5 months apart!

I’ve picked up a couple of learning points from this experience.  If you have a pet, make sure your pet is microchipped and that the details have been registered.  And check regularly that the contact details are still bang up to date.

And secondly, anyone can make a contribution to reuniting a missing pet – you don’t need to be in the vicinity, or have to commit to a set number of hours of effort.  Just log in whenever and wherever you can.  We can all make a difference.

Joanxx