Fireworks - LOST DOG thread now, not chat.

Dollardog

Just an idea Sazzy and you might not like doing it, but some magazines pay for articles. Have you thought about writing an article about his dissappearance and approaching any of these mags to see if they would print it, with pictures etc of him?
Magazines like Woman, Woman's Own, Best etc have big readerships and if you asked people to tell anyone who had taken in a lost dog like him to get in touch, you might get a responce. I'm sure some farmer's wives might read these magazines.
Everything is worth a try for the old lad.

zaksmum

Dollardog wrote: »

I was trying to put myself in the position of someone having found Ruars and how I would know how to get him home.
Perhaps others could do the same and it might give some clues as to what could be done to make anyone who had found him aware he was being looked for if they hadn't heard.

If I had of seen an old, obviously well looked after dog alone and probably distressed, I would have taken it in.
Obviously the first thing I would have looked for would be a collar, but he had slipped that. Then I would have taken him to the vet's to be scanned and to ask if they recognised him, but he wasn't chipped, so no clue there.
I presume at the age he is, he would be well behaved and in need of comfort.
I would report having found him to the police, dog warden and the RSPCA and to any rescues I knew about in my area, the important word there is knew about, because not everyone might know of many in their area, I don't.
I would tell them I had got him but as he looked old, I would not have taken him to a rescue, but given him home comforts instead and fostered him until I found his owner.
I would also have looked out for lost dog posters and ads in local shops. The problem being, he could have wandered a long way and not been advertised as being lost in the area I found him.
I am obviously on the Internet, but not everyone is. Even if they are, not everyone knows of this site or would think of looking to see if it had a pet's thread. Although I am now on everyday just to see if he's turned up, I often spend months not coming on here at all - so this thread wouldn't have told me.
I'm also not on any of the social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc, - so wouldn't know from them either.
I don't buy or read newspapers, I don't often have magazines, especially any that would carry lost and found ads - so again, wouldn't know from there either.
Since tv went digital I haven't been able to watch live tv, just watch things on i-player, so don't get local news programmes either, nor do I listen to the radio much.

So how would anyone be able to get the message to me?

This is what I've been trying to work out all along. How to reach people who don't have internet access, watch TV or read papers.

Especially in rural areas, this is more common than we may realise. When I recently visited family in rural Ireland, they didn't even have a TV. They had a dog that had just turned up at their farm one day and stayed. They fed it and cared for it, and it slept in one of their barns. They made no attempt to find the owner and hadn't even named the dog, although it had by then been with them over a year. They had little contact with the world beyond their farm, seeing only the odd salesman/company rep etc.

Dogs in such areas are free spirits like in Britain in the 1950s - they are let out in the mornings and back in again in the evenings, so it's quite usual to see dogs pottering around with no owner in sight.

I really can't think of any way, which hasn't been considered, to get a missing dog appeal out to such people.

aliasojo

zaksmum wrote: »

I think it's pronounced RORY?

I've heard both Rory (roar -y) and also Rury (Roo-ry) as pronounciations for this name.

I've never been sure so I call him the old boy from Nairn. :rotfl:

Saz, which is it?

Dollardog

zaksmum wrote: »

This is what I've been trying to work out all along. How to reach people who don't have internet access, watch TV or read papers.

Especially in rural areas, this is more common than we may realise. When I recently visited family in rural Ireland, they didn't even have a TV. They had a dog that had just turned up at their farm one day and stayed. They fed it and cared for it, and it slept in one of their barns. They made no attempt to find the owner and hadn't even named the dog, although it had by then been with them over a year. They had little contact with the world beyond their farm, seeing only the odd salesman/company rep etc.

Dogs in such areas are free spirits like in Britain in the 1950s - they are let out in the mornings and back in again in the evenings, so it's quite usual to see dogs pottering around with no owner in sight.

I really can't think of any way, which hasn't been considered, to get a missing dog appeal out to such people.

Yes, that was my point, I know lots of people who have never heard of this site when I've mentioned something on it, and as I say, I often don't come on here for months at a time unless I've spotted a thread I want to follow such as now. I actually didn't see this thread until until sometime around Christmas and started following it then.
The medium who Sazzys friend went to mentioned that they thought he was being cared for and in a barn. The barn could mean literally a barn or it could be a barn conversion. He could be just hanging around there because it is the only human contact he can find at the moment or he could have actually been taken in properly. The people looking after him could just think he had been turned out of his home because he was getting old - some people do that, although its not something that I could ever do.

sazzybum

Sorry DD, I was unwell last night and wasn't online. It can be pronounced 'Roo-ry' but we always call him Rory. Although usually when I'm calling him, it's Ro-reeeeeeeee..

A group of people went round the farms etc just after he went missing, but as you say, it's maybe time to do this again. We've posted on agricultural websites, ramblers associations etc are involved.

The trouble is, we just don't know what direction he went. This place is so wild-it can be 5-6 miles between houses round about. There's vast expanses of moors and hills. Those programmes you see of the wildness of the Highlands, that's what it's like.

We tried Take a Break etc a few weeks ago (I believe Chris and TJ suggested that a while back, so we approached them) but nothing came of it. Something to try again..I don't care if they pay me- I'd pay THEM to run it.

Thank you all for continuing to think of ideas. It means so much xx

zaksmum

sazzybum wrote: »

Sorry DD, I was unwell last night and wasn't online. It can be pronounced 'Roo-ry' but we always call him Rory. Although usually when I'm calling him, it's Ro-reeeeeeeee..

A group of people went round the farms etc just after he went missing, but as you say, it's maybe time to do this again. We've posted on agricultural websites, ramblers associations etc are involved.

The trouble is, we just don't know what direction he went. This place is so wild-it can be 5-6 miles between houses round about. There's vast expanses of moors and hills. Those programmes you see of the wildness of the Highlands, that's what it's like.

We tried Take a Break etc a few weeks ago (I believe Chris and TJ suggested that a while back, so we approached them) but nothing came of it. Something to try again..I don't care if they pay me- I'd pay THEM to run it.

Thank you all for continuing to think of ideas. It means so much xx

Sazzy, have you been in touch recently with the railway people? As we're deep in winter now, bushes and shrubbery will be thinned out as the leaves have all fallen, and if anything was previously hidden (sorry) it might now be more visible alongside the tracks.

Might be worth speaking to them again.

Dollardog

sazzybum wrote: »

...........
We tried Take a Break etc a few weeks ago (I believe Chris and TJ suggested that a while back, so we approached them) but nothing came of it. Something to try again..I don't care if they pay me- I'd pay THEM to run it.

Thank you all for continuing to think of ideas. It means so much xx

We know you wouldn't be bothered about being paid for them to run a story about him.
Perhaps if you wrote to them again, pointing them to this site and to Facebook, Youtube etc to show them that there is a lot of interest in him they might review it and print the story?
It is the sort of front page headline that makes me occassionally buy a magazine, I always look at the front pages to see if there is likely to be anything of interest, never buy any on a regular basis.
You hear of lots of stories where things have been printed and people have got in touch with the mag because they know the person being written about, you know the long lost relatives turning up because of a magazine/tv article.
Its got to be worth another try.

I hardly dare say this, in case Person one jumps on me again, but I don't suppose you contacted the medium again to see if they could at least give you anymore clues about the barn they thought he could be in? Even if you don't believe, it could be worth a try, many mediums have solved cases like that. Anything is worth trying.

Keep your hopes up, I'm sure he is still out there somewhere, probably desperate to get back home and just think of his surprise to see Zelda, she needs him by the sounds of it to put her in her place and teach her manners like he did for Bruce.

Take care.xx

sazzybum

zaksmum wrote: »

Sazzy, have you been in touch recently with the railway people? As we're deep in winter now, bushes and shrubbery will be thinned out as the leaves have all fallen, and if anything was previously hidden (sorry) it might now be more visible alongside the tracks.

Might be worth speaking to them again.

I call them every week Zaks mum, and to their credit- their Customer Service chap always calls me back to advise that nothing has been found or seen on the tracks. I know they get a bad press on doglost etc, but they've been smashing with me. I'D be fed up of me by now.

I agree DD, probably worth contacting the magazines again. I'm still unsure about the medium, she said sher would contact me if she heard anything-so I'm going to leave it at that. Please don't be offended. I want to have an open mind. Other ones had contacted me saying he was hiding in bushes near water, then one who said he was in a barn, so....I just don't know.

I'm missing him more and more, not less, and when I see the reunited dogs on 'doglost' I feel so happy for them, but also green with jealousy Not nice

Dollardog

sazzybum wrote: »

..........
I agree DD, probably worth contacting the magazines again. I'm still unsure about the medium, she said sher would contact me if she heard anything-so I'm going to leave it at that. Please don't be offended. I want to have an open mind. Other ones had contacted me saying he was hiding in bushes near water, then one who said he was in a barn, so....I just don't know.

I'm missing him more and more, not less, and when I see the reunited dogs on 'doglost' I feel so happy for them, but also green with jealousy Not nice

I'm not offended at all, I know there are probably 10 fake people out there to every perhaps genuine one, and I have an open mind about it too, so don't worry, it was just another line that was all. Anything that might help.
I wouldn't have thought he was hiding in bushes near water in this weather at all, he was a dog used to living in a home, much more likely to have sought out some sort of shelter and someone to feed him, fingers crossed he's found or finds his way back soon.

zaksmum

You're bound to feel a bit jealous sazzy - I know I would. The not knowing must be destroying you.

Are there any designated footpaths or walks heading out into the wilder areas around Nairn? You know, those with mileage markings on, or graded for easier and harder walks? Probably you already have posters up around these, but the winter might have wrecked them. Could be worth putting up new "Still missing" posters. Walkers/ramblers will be starting up again soon after the winter lay off and new posters might jog someone's memory.

And the caravan parks will reopen in a couple of weeks too. Maybe renew the posters around them?

I remember many years ago there was a missing persons campaign where the pictures of anyone missing were put onto milk cartons. I wonder if anything like that might be possible?

Someone somewhere must know something!