Pet Finder Search Dogs

Kustom K9 Training uses operational human search and rescue dogs that are certified by the national organization North American Police Work Dog Association.  Each K9 Team must meet “industry standard” which is in large set by the Supreme Court.  Our teams train approx. 500 hours a year to keep up their abilities.  Each handler has had extensive training in scent theory, and is ground search certified.  It takes approx. two years to get a K9 Team finished, certified, and working well.  Our teams go out on actual missing person cases and also assist law enforcement with criminal casework.  Our dogs have advanced scent discrimination skills and can work stolen dog cases, and can ID homes, and vehicles that your dog might be in, or has been in.    

All we need is something personal to your lost pet. We will search for missing or stolen pets, escaped exotics, lizards, snakes, turtles, or hoofed animals such as horses.  If you suspect your animal has been stolen call the police right away, then call us if after a brief search you have not found your pet.  The police will not use their police dogs to look for your pet.  

Here is a list of things you will need to do. 

• Start a journal right away of everyone you talk to, times, and dates of your efforts, and how much time you spent. Document ALL your expenses. Should a suspect be identified you can file for damages in civil court.
  
• Go to every animal control in all cities surrounding you, and file missing dog report……….have a picture for them also. Try not to do this by phone. Physically drive there and check the kennels for your pet yourself. You cannot trust that your pet is not there based on your description and their understanding. Many times when told their pet was not there, an owner did find their pet at a facility. Don’t bet your pet’s life that the person you talk to on the phone is educated enough, or cares as much as you, to locate your pet if it is in the facility. Also check the facilities sick, injured and DOA list, recent adoptions, and pets that have been destroyed. Check all temporary adoptions, and fostered pet files.

• Don’t give up your actual search efforts for at least three months. That means continuing to check all locations. Know how long each location hold their animals until they euthananize.  Go to that facility before that day.

• Check with area vets and animal hospitals to see if anyone dropped of an injured animal, or brought in a new pet matching your dog. Fax them your poster with the picture. If someone finds or steals a dog they may take it to the vet for a check up prior to either selling it or keeping it.

• Check all the above, and all animal rescue organizations within at least 60 miles for the first three months, and extend that to 150 miles after that, from the location your pet went missing from.  

• Post signs at pet stores, feed stores, and equine shops.

• Put ads in the newspapers, and any local pet magazine.

• Check lost and found section of the newspaper.

• Check the pets for sale and pet give away sections.

• Follow up on any ads that sound at all like it could be your pet. Never go to a location alone.

• Document on a map each reported sighting. This can give you a path of travel, which can help the search. 

• Check local Internet pet finder web sites like Craig's list, and petfinder.com.  You may be able to list your lost pet for free on other sites.  

• Place posters at recreational, community centers, and grocery stores.

• Go to PETAs website and check the current location of facilities that do research on animals. If there are any in your state or surrounding states, call them. Fax them your poster.

We are on call 24/7; however at times there may be a delayed response if the handlers are working at the time, on another search, or the search is some distance from the handler’s location. That is why it is important to call as soon as you can.

When we arrive we will need the following information: 

• Photo and description of pet
  
• Heath information: shots, rabies, any illnesses or injuries, etc.
  
• Collar description and tag(s) information
  
• Any aggressive issues
  
• For reptiles is the pet poisonous.
  
• Where has the pet been over the last week?
  
• Where do you walk or go with your pet?

Fee Arrangement

• Fee for all travel $5.00 per 15 minuets. 
• Search fee starts on arrival and ends after debrief, is $100 an hour. This is for one handler and one dog, however we may work an additional dog.  There is no extra charge, and your rate remains the same per hour.     
• There is a one hour minimum for local searches, call for more information if you are outside of the greater Tidewater area.  After the minimum you may prorate in 15-minute increments.  A search may be an hour or could be days if needed and requested by the owner.
• If the search is canceled and or we are turned around prior to leaving or within 15 minutes of leaving our location, there is no charge, after that there is a at $100 charge.  This is due to the fact that we may have declined another search to come to yours, and there is preparation time to respond to a search, including map printing.  

Extended or long Range: Requiring overnight stay 

• There is a minimum fee of $500 a day charge plus expenses (gas, lodging, flights, tolls, etc). 
• The room must be a NON-SMOKING room in a lodge that accepts service and search dogs in the room.  
• Search time remains at $100 an hour.
• All lodging and air travel expenses will be prepaid by the client. The air fair fee should be first class when possible or two seats together in coach to accommodate the K9 comfortably.
• There must be a reliable rental vehicle waiting/paid, or someone to pick us up. Please do not bring dogs with you.
• All meeting, briefing, debriefings, planning, etc are also at the $100 an hour rate.
• Travel is $5.00 per 15 minutes.
  
  Some Basic Information
  
  Scent in the criminal world is evidence. Scent is shed in many different ways at a rate of thousands of particles every minute as a human or pet walks along. This scent either falls to the ground collecting in the vegetation or some components of the scent will blow about in the air, leaving traces in locations further from the actual path taken. Depending on the terrain, vegetation, and weather, scent trails can be worked weeks, months and even a year later. Rain at times can help keep the scent concentrated on the ground and active, but can also revive old dried out and inactive scent. Heavy rains wash scent down to lower areas such as ditches. Working around buildings moves scent in odd patterns so those areas can take longer for the K9 to work out.
  
  K9s can work through heavy vehicle and human traffic although it will make the job more difficult. Never smoke cigarettes around a search dog as Nicotine is a poisonous drug and is an anesthetizing agent to the search dogs scent receptors. If we are responding to your home to work, and if you smoke we ask that you discontinue smoking in the home and immediate area so the search dog can work without smoke issues.
  
  In the summer heat we prefer to search in the early and late evenings, or very early morning. In the winter cold the warmer portion of the day is best. Severe heat or severe cold can hamper efforts, with heat being the worst enemy. The dogs will at times follow incorrect trails. This can be due to the fact the pet is heavily walked in the area, or the owner has walked in the area and carried the scent of the pet on their shoes to locations that the pet has no actually been. The K9 can usually work through these situations, but it can slow down the outcome.
  
  A common occurrence is that the search dog will trail to an area and indicate your pet is there, and we cannot find your pet. Depending on the type of pet we are trying to locate, a cat, dog or reptile can and do get picked up by well-meaning citizens. This can still be positive clue in that you can now place posters in that area in hopes the person will travel that way again. This method has high find statistics for pet location. It is also not unusual for sighting reports to come in from other locations then that the dog trailed to. Sometimes animals become burdensome to the well-meaning person, and they are dropped back off again in a different area. It could be that the pet gets loose from its new caretaker and tries to get back home. Your pet may be traumatized and not come to you. If you do find or see your pet do not run up to it. Sit down and softly call to your pet. Offer treats. Try not to be over excited as this may scare your pet. If you pet will not come to you or come out, a live animal trap can be set depending on the location. Stress can change an animal’s mental status and they may not come to the owner. They will generally hang around a familiar area, and will soon get hungry and go into the baited trap. If someone is feeding them it makes it harder. If you put up posters it will help if someone is feeding your pet.
  
  There is no 100% guarantee that we'll find your beloved pet. Sadly even though a search dog follows the track or trail of your pet to a location that does not mean your pet is still there, or alive. It could be any of the above explanations or that you pet has been stolen and kept or sold. This is why you should microchip and tattoo your pets.
  
  Make sure you call on real search dogs to assist you in locating your pet. Training to search for pets is the same as for humans. It cannot be learned from a book, or a seminar. The search team has to be properly trained and that includes dog and handler. Real search dogs in this industry have a very high success rate. One long-standing and very successful search group boasts an overall 80% success rate. They physically find 20% during the search. The remaining 60% of the pets are found because the search dog led them to a specific area, and the pet owners posted signs there. The person(s) who picked up the pet, sees the signs, and calls the owner. Lastly 20% of the animals were never found, because whoever picked up the animal either keeps it, gave it away, sold it, or the pet died.
  
  If you do get a call on your pet, never go alone. Don’t fall for scams such as “wire me the money, and I will give or send you your pet”………This is very common. It is good to have some kind of information that they will not have about the pet description. When they cannot answer your questions, then you know they do not have your pet. This could be the tattoo number, or an odd marking that no one else knows. Never give ALL the details. Leave something that will help you verify if your caller is a scammer or for real. Rewards are good, but stipulate the pet must be in your hands prior to any reward being paid. If the person has left the area with your pet, have them drop the pet off at the police department or local animal shelter. If your caller is for real they will not mind doing that. If they come up with a story that sounds reasonable, you can always tell them you will send the police to verify their story. If it is for real and they do have your pet, then you do not mind sending money. Do it via their local police.  So contact them and have them insure it is not a scam.  They will verify they have your pet.
  
  Don’t count on other services to do work that might save your pet. If you do the work yourself you know it is done right. There are many bad pet finder services out there. It may be hard to know which is good and which is bad. If it were my pet, I would want to know it was done right.
  
  NOTE: Our dogs are professional search dogs that certify yearly. We train in ground search tactics, wilderness first aid, scent theory, mapping, report writing, crime scene preservation, and much, much more. We have now cross-trained them to find lost pets. We hope to add pet find statistics of our own, and some great success stories.
  
  Our handlers are members of North American Police Work Dog Association. Membership and certifications can be verified via their web site starting approx. August of 2008, or you can contact the President of the organization. www.napwda.com
  
  For bio and SAR profile check out "Meet our Trainers".
  
  If you are considering requesting search services; copies of K9 training summaries are available upon request for 2005, 2006, 2007.