While on my way to visit one of our  pet sitting clients in Gilbert one morning, I happened to notice two West Highland Terriers high tailing it (um, pun intended) down a neighborhood street at about Mach 5. The only problem? These 2 pups were zooming down the street with no owners attached to them, or leashes.

I pulled my car over and called them to me. They ran over to me all happy tails and lolling tongues, but just as quickly ran off again. I gave chase but they were too fast for me. So I got in my car and followed them to the end of the street. They came tearing to the end of the neighborhood and around the corner now heading down a major street. They were running east on Ray Road, headed for the intersection of Power Road! Not good!!!

I called out and luckily got one of them to turn around and run back to me. I picked him up, carried him while calling the other puppy and moving in the opposite direction hoping to lure him back the other way. Thank goodness it worked! I got them both in my car. No collars on either dog, so now I’m blindly trying to find who these dogs belong to. No easy task because the neighborhood they ran out of was huge!

I spent ten minutes driving around listening to my intuition as to where to turn and asking anyone who was out if they knew the owners. No one did. 🙁

Well a few minutes more driving and the stars aligned. A woman was out looking for them! The landscapers had left the gate unlatched and the dogs ran out of the yard since they had a dog door.  The woman was very grateful because the dogs were her daughter’s. She couldn’t believe how far the dogs had run in such a short time. It was a good mile already away from their home!

This is why it’s so important to have identifying information on your pet’s collars and/or have them micro-chipped so they can be reunited with you if separated.

Did you know only 15-20% of lost dogs without identification are re-united with their owners? That’s only 2 out of 10 dogs lost!

For cats the statistics are even more dismal: only 2% of lost cats are returned home. 

This story has a happy ending for these lucky dogs and owners. Critter Caretakers cares about all pets, not just our Gilbert pet sitting client’s pets!