- Indy
Dear Sarah and Judy:
We are writing to thank you and to offer our firm endorsement of your services. When our dog Indy went missing, we did everything we could possibly imagine to get her back. However, we quickly realized we were in over our heads and were running around like a disorganized mess, mostly chasing shadows.
We needed help.
You were there.
You helped us understand that there was plenty of hope—but that we needed to get organized and prioritize our activities, while also taking a more measured approach (playing the “long game,” rather than trying desperately for the “quick score”). You answered our questions, responded to our concerns, and gave us the benefit of your experience. You gave us a much-needed game plan and plenty of tools and direction to help us follow through. And you offered us unconditional support by advising us but letting us make our own decisions—because it was our dog who was missing, so we had to be okay with whatever we did or didn’t do to try to get her back.
With your help and with some luck, we got our dog back home—safe and sound. As you explained to us, there are no magic tricks or shortcuts—but there is also no substitute for a good game plan and the tools to carry it out. We are far more prepared now, should this ever happen again, thanks to you—and we will still call on you again, should it happen, to get your assistance and support.
We strongly recommend your individualized consultation and lost pet strategy services to anyone looking for a missing pet, and we are grateful to have received your help. We also consider ourselves very lucky to have met two people so knowledgeable and caring. We know you do this because you love it, and because you genuinely want to reunite people with their pets. On that basis alone, we would recommend you—but you’re also very, very good at what you do.
Our best, with tremendous gratitude,
Maria and Owen S
San Jose, CA
- Hercules
Judy, Hercules is home!
The family at Londoner & Highland trapped him in their garage last night. This was the guy we stopped driving the truck in the scent target area. I’m so relieved!
Sharon P
Boise, ID
- Trixi Belle
We thank you from the bottom of our Hearts! You and the dogs did an amazing job and we appreciate all your hard work!
Rick & Patty
Riverside, CA
- BabyGirl
I contacted Lost Pet Tracker nearly 2 weeks after my BabyGirl went missing. She is an 8 pound Yorkie/Terrier mix. We recently adopted her in December from a rescue. She has always been scared of people. Very fear aggressive. It took days before she was comfortable with me and weeks before she was comfortable with my husband. She runs FAST so the chance that someone would catch her was slim. The only hope we had would be that she would remember me and come to me… should I get the opportunity to see her.
She ran out the front door from my mom’s house while I was out of town. It seemed that she went to look for me so I took an early flight back and decided to take my maternity leave early just so I could spend every day looking for her. She went missing Jan 17 and I happen to be due with my first child Feb 18. Time was ticking.
I’m a very organized person, so I was already doing a lot of the recommend steps to find my BabyGirl: I made, hung and passed out flyers, offered a high reward, posted on various social media sites, alerted local Vets, searched local shelters, reported her missing with the microchip company and Animal Control. I was keeping a timeline of her sightings and mapping her route. I paid to have an ad in the local newspaper. I paid to have a lost dog “amber alert” phone call sent out to 1250 local residents. Family, friends, neighbors and strangers were now on the hunt for her.
I was receiving sightings, but I was always one step behind her. By the time I would get to her location, she had already moved on. Often her sightings described her as “running away”. She was not familiar at all with my mom’s neighborhood, so there were no familiar locations for her to find refuge. There was no chance that she would happen to “find her way home”.
At 8 months pregnant I knew the amount of time and energy I could spend looking for BabyGirl was becoming less. Plus, her most recent sighting described her as looking injured, which increased my worry and desperation. I was willing to pay and do anything to find her.
I found Lost Pet Tracker online through the Missing Pet Partnership. I contacted other companies also listed on the website and felt pushed aside. I was told I wasn’t trying everything, that I should try trapping her… which I had been. I felt dismissed, just another lost case. And then Sarah at Lost Pet Tracker called me…
Right away I could tell Sarah cared just as much about finding BabyGirl as me. The main difference was that she had the knowledge, experience and tools to help improve my search. She was sweet, not pushy, not a sales person. I genuinely felt connected to her and was confident that even with miles between us that she could help guide me. She rushed to have Judy and Mellie come to Northern California to help me. [They are based in Southern California] I contacted them on Sunday and Judy and Mellie were out on Tuesday.
The search dog, Mellie, was an interesting experience. To be honest, Mellie didn’t help too much with the search. And I don’t mean to undermine her work. I believe with some cases of lost dogs I am sure she helps immensely. However in our case, BabyGirl would find a location, people would sight her, approach her and she would run away. Thus, starting our search from the beginning. I’m sure this makes “following her scent” a difficult task. Especially considering we had been having weeks of some of the worst rains in the past year.
Judy [the dog handler] worked for nearly 10 hours that day, not only with working Mellie, but also helping me to create and hang large signs at the major intersections in the area. Those signs were what eventually helped to bring our BabyGirl home. Out of all of their suggestions this was the big “Ah-Ha” moment. That… and their suggestion to have us tell our search party to not approach BabyGirl, but to leave food, make her feel safe and keep an eye on her until I could reach her.
Finally, on day 18, I received a call from an employee at a local business. She heard about our large sign from a coworker, drove down the street to take a photo of it and called me. At this point she was watching BabyGirl head toward the main road. I happened to be in the area hanging more large signs. As soon as I saw BabyGirl I got down on the ground and opened a can of food. As I was saying her name I could tell she remembered me. She sniffed the food, got closer and sniffed my hand. She eventually let me pick her up and hold her. She was whining with happiness. She was uninjured, dirty, but healthy. The stars had aligned!!!
If it were not for those large signs and the suggestions from Sarah and Judy with Lost Pet Tracker, we may still be looking for our BabyGirl. I cannot THANK them enough for all of their love, support and help. They were crucial members of my “team”. I recommend them highly. Each lost animal situation is different, but they greatly helped to BRING MY BABYGIRL HOME.
THANK YOU!!!!
-
Ayla D
Livermore, CA
- Wookiee
Judy and Sarah are AMAZING human beings and VERY good at their jobs. The amount of desperation you feel when your pet goes missing is overwhelming, but these incredible human beings are not only empathetic, they are very, very thorough. They really go the extra mile. Though they never over promise, they very much over delivered!!! If they were here I would kiss them right now for helping us reunite with our baby!!!
Our gratitude knows no bounds for you two!!!
Tom B
Los Angeles, CA
- Cheeto
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Mel and Cheeto get acquainted after Mel’s walk-up find of Cheeto trapped for a week in a neighbor’s garage!
Thank you again!
Douglas J
San Diego, CA
- Saphy
Judy and Sarah were very helpful and enjoyable to work with. My cat went missing and I scheduled a time for Judy to come out with her dogs 2 days later. They were both very knowledgeable and answered all my questions and were very upfront about all of the possibilities that could come of the search. While the news was not good, (it was pretty definitive that a coyote did in fact get my precious cat) I am very very grateful they were able to help me find the closure I needed. Do I wish my cat was found alive, yes every day and I will miss her greatly, but I would highly recommend them to any one with a lost pet. They were able to provide me with what truly happened and with out that I would still be waiting and hopping for my cat to come home, instead of moving forward with the loss. Thank you.
Brittany W
Oceanside, CA
- Stella
Thank you Sarah. Although it was a horrible ending for us, that has and will cause us a world of grief for a long time, the best thing I did was to call in you, Judy and the dogs. That is the one bright spot, that I did look for you online so soon. It would have been much harder on us waiting and wondering for weeks and months where she was, if anywhere, whether she was hurt, someone took her, and no closure. Not that we have closure yet, but we are in the process. We cried for the first 4 days straight. I am also thankful that you did recover her paw and foot. That has given me comfort…
Kerry H
Murrieta, CA
- Lola
It wasn’t until we called Judy and Sarah after 3 miserable days/nights, that we felt any measure of hope. Sarah and Judy calmly and warmly walked us through the next things we needed to do (neon posters, not just flyers!), and what to stop doing (frantically calling her name could actually be keeping her anxious and away!). They encouraged us to not give up hope or stop searching prematurely.
At 8pm that very night a neighbor who had seen our signs called with a sighting of Lola in our neighborhood. We immediately called Judy and Sarah, and they coached us on how to LURE instead of chase. We did exactly what they suggested, walking in the neighborhood with our other dog to set a scent trail back home, talking calmly and light-heartedly so she would feel safe instead of scared if she heard us, firing up the grill to make our house the yummiest one in the neighborhood, leaving articles of our worn clothing and pillowcases around the yard so she would be drawn to the familiar scents, and leaving the garage door a few feet open so she’d have a place to shelter if she showed up while we were asleep. We did EXACTLY what was recommended, felt hopeful for the first time since she’d gone missing, and THE NEXT MORNING we woke up to Lola whining at the door.
I can’t thank Judy and Sarah enough! I think we could have really screwed this up if we hadn’t had their calm and confident advice. I especially appreciated Judy’s background in EVIDENCE-BASED search techniques and protocol. My husband and I are both science geeks and it helped tremendously to know the reasoning behind the advice. Priceless!
Lola, back safe-and-sound thank to Judy and Sarah’s advice! THANK YOU!!!
Kirsten G
San Francisco, CA
- Squirt
I went out of town and my 6 year old yorky / schnauzer was staying at a friend’s house about 20 miles away. My dog is a rescue with several issues and literally got frightened by a broom. She ran off and we couldn’t find her for days. We did signs, talked to neighbors, posted flyers, lost dog websites, checked shelters, left trails of food but she was so far away it was looking and feeling hopeless.
After the 11th day, I texted Lost Pet Trackers. Sara called me within hours. She gave me great insight as to what other strategies I could try on my own or I can opt for a consultation.
My situation was bleek, but Sara gave me hope. I had the consultation the very next day and she gave me a trillion strategies to work smarter and not harder.
On the 15th day I had all my supplies ready and started my search. Sara coached me the whole time as I went out every day. My baby was spotted that same evening, but I couldn’t find her because my lost, frightened dog was roaming the city. She was just too far from home.
We finally tracked my dog to a location about 6 miles away, across the freeway, on a major street across from a busy shopping center, hiding in an apartment complex in the sewers. We saw her and she was so disoriented, she ran away again.
Sara gave me suggestions on how to lure her in. I went out the very next morning. I followed her advice. My dog saw me again and just walked right into my lap.
After 19 days trying to find her way home, my Squirt is safe at home with me.
- Hershey
It was great working with you.
Seth Fox
Area Manager
www.wagly.com
- Roxie
Roxie, my 9.5 year old Maine Coon kitty was missing. She got out between 10pm and midnight on a Thursday night. After searching all night, we called Judy. She got back to us within a few hours. The tips she gave us over the phone were helpful and we followed them to a T. We still scheduled her and her search dogs to come out on Monday, and I was so excited to text her at 2 AM last night to cancel because Roxie came home!!
If you’re missing your furbaby, call Judy right away. Leave her a message and she will get back to you. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful resource so close to me.
Thank you for bringing my baby back. Thank you so much!!!!
Shereen G
Corona, CA