Let's start at the beginning and plan NOT to lose any pets!

A little prevention:

• Ensure your dog is contained within it's own backyard at all times unless under strict adult supervision.

• Take your puppy to "puppy pre-school". These training courses provide you with the basic tips (and confidence) you need to develop a good canine citizen and also enable your puppy to have early (an extremely important) socialisation with other dogs and people in a safe environment.

• Undertake obedience training with your dog to ensure that you can always control him when in public. Obedience training is also a very enjoyable and bonding experience for the dog and its master.

• Encourage your cat to sleep indoors at night. We are fast approaching the time when this will become a requirement of owning domestic cats.

• Have all domestic pets desexed. Desexing at an early age will help control many of the "anti-social" aspects of pet ownership ... straying, territorial marking, fighting etc.

• If any tradesmen are working at your house, ensure they are aware you have a dog and that they latch the side gate each and every time they go through it. (Better still have the gate fitted with an automatic spring and latch to ensure that it locks automatically).

• If you plan to leave your pets with friends while you go on holidays, choose the people very carefully, ensure they are pet lovers and that their property is secure. If possible, visit your friends' home a few times with your pet prior to his holiday, to help him get used to the environment and the people. If it's a dog, take him for walks around the area too.

• Ensure that while he is with his carers that he wears a tag on his collar with THEIR telephone details on the tag. A cheap, reliable option is to use a plastic luggage label into which you slide a piece of paper with the details written on. (Hint: Wrap cellotape around the paper to help keep it waterproof).

• The best option of all is to register your dog with dog-e-data and use their identification tag. It is the system we use and highly recommend. The dog-e-data tag is a bright yellow circle shaped tag which fits easily onto your dog or cat's collar. If your pet goes missing whomever finds your pet can ring the 24 hr a day phone number on the dog-e-data tag, quote your pets individual number which is also on the tag, and dog-e-data will contact you. Simple and easy, all you pay for is the initial registration of your pet (you also get discounts for registering multiple pets at the same time), and if your pet ever needs to use the service, you pay a small recovery fee, which is much cheaper than the council ranger will charge you for picking up a stray animal.We have been users of the system a few times, and each time, our dogs were returned home within 15 minutes of getting out.

Many carers call us having lost a friend's pet they are minding. It is an extremely distressing situation for all concerned and one that could be easily avoided with a little planning.

There are many professional alternatives to care for your pet while you're on holidays - check out kennels, catteries and your local vet. Some dog pounds have boarding facilities. Many of these facilities book out very quickly at Christmas and during school holidays, so book early. Also try the home caring facilities.

A little simple planning is invaluable:

Take a colour photograph of your pet annually. These can be invaluable tools if your pet does disappear.

Take a really good look at your pet - can you describe it accurately? E.g. what sort of ears and tail does it have, what colour are its' feet? Is it long or short haired? Does it have any unusual or distinguishing marks? (You'd be surprised just how many people can't describe their pet in detail). If you can't describe it, how can you find it?

Ensure your cat wears a collar and identity disk, incorporating their name and your (or your carer's) current phone number. It will also save native animals and birds if your cat wears a bell.

Have your dog registered with the local council. The fee charged by the council is a life insurance policy. A registered dog (wearing it's tag/microchip) is very simply identified and returned to its' owner, and is also given fourteen days accommodation at any municipal pound (instead of the normal seven days for unidentified dogs).

It is now a legal requirement that you have your cat or dog microchipped.

However, since the introduction of the Companion Animal legislation in July, 1999 (with its' microchip database) we have received many, many calls from pounds, facilities and vets who have taken in animals whose microchip details have not yet reached the Companion Animal database (sometimes months later) and therefore the animals cannot be identified and returned to their owners.

UNTIL THESE TEETHING PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN RESOLVED PLEASE, PLEASE CONDUCT YOURSELF AS IF YOUR PET IS NOT MICROCHIPPED - DO NOT RELY ON THE CHIP'S ABILITY TO REUNITE YOU WITH YOUR PET.

Your dog should wear a collar at all times (even if he never leaves the garden). Make sure the dog-e-data tag and any other identification tags are on separate rings, so if one falls off, the other one is a backup. Check the ID disk regularly to make sure the print is still legible.

If you do lose your Pet:

Telephone Pet Search on 1300 309 004- we collect the details of found animals from all over Australia- from vets, councils, pounds, animal welfare agencies (like the RSPCA) as well as from members of the public who are holding animals at home.

We are continually feeding this information into our computer system and we can quickly access it on your behalf and provide you with the whereabouts of any animals fitting your pet's description. You then follow-up our leads and collect your pet.

In addition we can distribute posters of your pets description and photograph to all the dog pounds in your area plus all the vets, pet shops, grooming parlours, obedience clubs and police stations within a 10 - 15 kilometre radius of where your pet disappeared.

At the same time we can add your pets description to the database on the web site so people who have found animals can check the website for you. To maintain your privacy we act as your mail box and forward any information on to you.

We know how devastating it can feel to lose a pet. The sense of panic, hopelessness, of not knowing which way to turn and even anger can get in the way of you finding your pet.

We're specially trained to help you - with support, feedback and concrete ideas of things you can do which have proved successful for thousands of our clients since 1992.

Try to ignore the horror stories you might hear. Believe in your heart that your pet is safe and you will get him back - and in many, many cases this is exactly what happens.

Found an animal?

Ring us! On 1300 309 004. It costs nothing to add an animal to our system. You can also check the photo library on our web site which contains many of the animals we're currently searching for. Your information can result in one more of Sydney's strays reaching home.