Craigslist Can Help You Find Your Pet

We've all heard the news about transactions that have gone bad through Craigslist. It gets such bad publicity that I hardly ever use it anymore. There are lots of crimes going on and fateful meetings but on Christmas Day 2012, it turned out to be a lifesaver for a little white dog. Thanks to Craigslist, he found his way home to his loving family. Craigslist can be really helpful if it's used the way it was meant to be and not for bad purposes.

It was Christmas night and my family had just finished visiting an enormous Christmas light exhibit at a local hotel. We were driving along a quiet frontage road when up ahead, I spotted a car pulled over on the side of the road. A few seconds later, I saw a little white dog prancing alongside the road. It looked like he had gotten out of the car but as soon as I pulled over, the car drove away. I was dumbfounded why these people would have abandoned this adorable friendly little dog. I knew there had to be an explanation. We caught the dog easily and took it home. I was hoping that we would be able to find a lost dog ad on Craigslist or maybe even Facebook but neither one gave us a clue as to who this dog belonged to or why he was running around alone on this road. And why was that car driving away at the same time that we saw the little dog?

As I searched online for someone missing this little dog, my teenagers were trying to find a place where the dog could stay overnight. It was Christmas night after all and most people were busy with their families. We finally found someone who does dog rescues and would have it checked for a chip in the morning but if they didn't find one, she said she would take him to the humane society. I'm rather anti-humane society so to me that wasn't the best option. I had to keep looking myself. Someone certainly had to be missing this little dog. He was so friendly that he couldn't have come from anything but a very loving family. He had no fears of people whatsoever. He happily came up to say hi and hopped right in the truck with us.

Unfortunately, this little dog wasn't wearing any tags. If their dog would have had tags in the first place, I could have easily called up the owners and got him home even quicker. A family pet with tags won't get stuck at the humane society who will hold them for ransom.

Tags come in all different shapes and sizes. You can put your name, your pet's name, and a phone number and address on the tag. You can pick one out that's perfect for your family. Have some fun finding the right one. Just remember, the phone number is the most important piece of information!

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After about an hour, I decided it was time to call the dog rescue lady. I couldn't wait much longer, it was almost 10:00 p.m. I hated the thought of this adorable dog going to the humane society so I hit refresh one last time and there it was!! Someone had finally posted a lost dog ad!! I barely had to read it because I knew it would be the owners of this dog. I called them up right away!! When the owner answered the phone, she could hardly believe it. She was so relieved that she got all choked up and could hardly talk. At first I thought it was a little strange that she wasn't saying much but then I realized that was the case. I was so happy to be able to reunite this family with their dog.

The owners explained that one of the kids wasn't feeling well so they pulled over to the side of the road. As the child stood outside the car, they never even realized that their dog had sneaked out. They thought it was strange that other cars were slowing down so much and that I had pulled over and then turned around but they didn't realize it was because of the dog until they got home and he wasn't in the car.

The family was so thankful that we had picked their dog up. The road we were on is a frontage road and there's no fence between that road and the freeway. There's not many buildings around either so the dog wouldn't have had anywhere to go and may have headed to the freeway. Apparently he likes chasing cars. The frontage road isn't a very heavily traveled road so it's lucky that there were people around that night.

The two young children had been at home crying for over an hour because they were missing their lost pup on Christmas Day. I couldn't imagine their parents having to tell them that anything bad had happened to their dog that day so we were really happy we were there right at that moment that they lost him.

The family had offered a reward for finding him but I couldn't take a reward. It was Christmas Night. I couldn't even imagine how awful it would be to lose a beloved pet like that on Christmas Day. I was just so happy that this little dog got back home to his family and that I could help without having to take him to the humane society. That's reward enough for me!

This is my cat Patches. She has a microchip and tags. When she goes outside, she's always on a leash but I don't want to take any chances in case the leash breaks or she gets away some other way. Losing pets is so heartbreaking.