In this article
The lead is in your hand and your dog is nowhere in sight. You do not have to solve everything at once. Start the calls, write down what you know and ask someone you trust to help with the next job.
Dogs Trust recommends contacting the council dog warden and neighbouring councils, local vets and rescues, and your dog's microchip database. Make those reports while the local search gets under way. If you suspect theft, contact the police too.1
Make the first calls
Choose one person to keep the phone available while others help. If you are alone, begin with the reports you can make now. A note headed “called, time, reference, next step” can stop a stressful afternoon turning into the same three unanswered questions.
In England and Wales, Defra's September 2026 guidance says councils must record lost or suspected stolen dog reports alongside their stray records. Give your contact details, your dog's description, chip or tag information, and where and when they were last seen. Say clearly if you suspect theft. Ask how to check the stray register.2
The first round of contacts
Find the council's published out-of-hours arrangements if the office is shut. In England and Wales, councils must provide a place for strays to be handed in at all times, although they are not required to provide night-time collection. Ask where your dog might have been taken.2
Before sharing the job list, agree who will make each call. Add neighbouring areas as named tasks, so everyone does not assume someone else has covered them. Keep a spare phone charger with the person taking messages. A reliable way to reach you matters more than a beautifully designed spreadsheet.
Search places you can check safely
The National Animal Welfare Trust suggests retracing the walk, checking around the car if the dog disappeared during an outing, and considering places such as cafés, shops, gardens, sheds and outbuildings. It also recommends keeping someone available to answer the contact number.3
Ask owners or staff to check their own buildings and land. Tell them what time your dog disappeared and give them the same photograph you are using elsewhere. Keep the search on places you can reach safely; ask for help with inaccessible areas instead of entering them yourself.
Dogs Trust suggests checking familiar walking routes, asking around a previous address after a recent move, and speaking to local building workers in case a dog has become trapped on a site. Ask local dog walkers to report sightings.1
Use a simple sightings log: who saw the dog, the time, the exact place and which direction they went. Mark a second-hand report as second-hand. A fresh sighting and a photograph from yesterday should not become the same dot on your map. This is a practical way to organise information, without assuming every message identifies your dog correctly.
Understand the council holding period
In England, Wales and Scotland, section 149 of the Environmental Protection Act provides for seven clear days after seizure, or after service of the statutory notice where one is served, before an unclaimed dog can be disposed of under that provision. Claiming the dog also involves paying the amounts due.4
The period concerns a dog already collected. It is not a week counted from the moment your dog vanished, and it gives you no reason to postpone reporting them. Ask the council when they collected the dog, whether notice was served and what deadline applies to that case.4
Defra's guidance for England and Wales describes seven full days starting the day after collection. It says owners should be told how to reclaim their dog, applicable charges and the holding period's end date. After the period, dogs may be rehomed or transferred to a rescue; the guidance reserves euthanasia for exceptional circumstances.2
Northern Ireland has a different system. Nidirect says an unclaimed dog may be sold or put down after five days. Reclaiming a seized dog can require payment of kennelling, veterinary and other applicable charges. Contact the council promptly and ask about its arrangements outside office hours.5
If paying the requested fees is a difficulty, raise that with the council as soon as you know where your dog is. Ask what options apply to your case and get the answer in writing. Keep the conversation about reclaiming your dog moving while you work through the paperwork.
If you believe your dog was taken
Dogs Trust advises reporting suspected theft to police immediately, obtaining a crime reference number and making clear that you are reporting a stolen dog. Continue notifying the warden, chip database, vets and rescues. If you find a possible sale advert, pass it to the police.6
The dog-abduction offence under the Pet Abduction Act 2024 applies where both the person and dog are in England or Northern Ireland when the dog is taken or detained. It covers removal from, or detention away from, lawful control, subject to the Act's exceptions and defences. It came into force on 24 August 2024.7
That particular offence does not apply in Wales or Scotland. You should still report suspected theft there. Let the police assess the applicable offence and the evidence, rather than trying to decide the legal label yourself.6, 7
Write a factual account while events are fresh: what you saw yourself, what someone else told you and what remains unknown. Save the original messages and advert details. Avoid public accusations or arranging a confrontation. Ask police how they want you to pass on further information.
NAWT also recommends checking whether local CCTV may offer clues. Ask the person responsible for it to preserve relevant footage and tell the police who holds it. Keep your dog's documents together, including older photographs, vet records, a rehoming contract or purchase paperwork and microchip details.3
Make one useful public appeal
Think of your appeal as a notice someone should understand in a few seconds. Use a clear recent photograph and make the location easy to recognise. Ask a friend to check the phone number before it is shared widely.
Dogs Trust recommends including a recent picture and where the dog was last seen, asking others to share, and searching posts about found dogs as well as publishing your own. Tagging local vets, charities and businesses can help spread the appeal.6
Your search information
- A clear photograph, with another view available if needed.3
- A description including distinctive features.3
- Last confirmed place and time, clearly separated from later unconfirmed reports.
- A working contact number and someone ready to answer it.3
- A note of which councils and organisations have already been contacted.
Keep one main version of the appeal and update it when information changes. Ask helpers to share that version so an old location does not keep circulating. Give the full chip number and ownership documents privately to the appropriate organisations; you do not need to publish your entire file of personal records.
Check demands for money independently
The US Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers impersonate animal hospitals or police and claim a missing pet needs emergency treatment. They may use manipulated photographs or videos. Pressure to pay through gift cards, cryptocurrency, payment apps or a wire-transfer service is part of the warning. This is a scam pattern, not evidence that a caller has your dog.8
Ask someone you trust to help assess the message before acting. A frightening story deserves checking, and a familiar-looking photograph alone is not proof. Keep screenshots of demands and tell police about threats. Genuine council reclaiming charges can exist, so verify the organisation and the circumstances instead of assuming that every fee is fraudulent.4, 5, 8
When your dog is back
Tell the microchip database your dog has been found. Dogs Trust also recommends keeping secure boundaries, supervising dogs in gardens, keeping them in sight outdoors and never leaving them unattended in public. Review the practical gap that allowed this incident before returning to the usual routine.1, 6
Close the loop with everyone who helped: update the main appeal, tell the organisations you contacted and collect posters. Then put the phone down for a while. There will be time to sort the folder of screenshots after you and your dog are home.
Sources and further reading8 sources
The small numbers in the article link to the source behind each fact. Sources open on their own websites.
- What to do if you've lost your dog
- Stray and abandoned dogs: local authority responsibilities
- What to do if your dog is lost or stolen
- Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 149
- Lost and stray dogs
- Preventing pet theft and what to do if a dog is stolen
- Pet Abduction Act 2024, section 1
- Animal lovers: learn to spot and avoid this breed of pet scams