10/26/2025
This was posted by Alishia Pete, case Manager with The Retrievers, a non-profit animal rescue organization (non-local). Please read, learn, and follow for lost dogs' protection.
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"Hey everyone, as most of you all know, I am a Case Manager with The Retrievers. I am putting this out in hopes to help people and dogs in the future. I was helping with a lost dog recently who was captured by a community member. This community member was bit. Thankfully this incident sounded to be minor and was able to be resolved. This is a prime example why we always ask the community not to engage with a lost dog. We ask for the community's eyes only. We need sightings reported so they can be mapped. When we have a few sighting on a map we begin to look for a pattern. This allows us to strategically place a food station and a humane live trap. This way there is less stress on the dog. Everyone remains safe too.
I can not preach enough DO NOT ENGAGE WITH A LOST DOG! There are two possible tragic outcomes when chasing or engageing with a lost dog (- or any animal).
This is the importance part! I want to explain Survival mode. - When a dog enters survival mode the odds of you capturing them is slim to none, plain and simple. This dog is essentially as feral as a coyote. Their needs are basic - shelter, food, and water in that order. They also exhibit the acute stress response - Fight, Flight, Freeze - this response is situational based. 99% of the time the first response is flight. This is where a dog can run into a road and be hit - most often when a dog is hit by a car it is life altering or fatal. Tragedy #1.
There is always a chance a dog can no longer flee due to injury, illness, or sheer exhaustion. This is where the Fight and Freeze response may come in. Always look at all lost dogs as dangerous. You do not know if this dog is vaccinated or not. You do not know this dog at all and he does not know you. In this moment the dog believes you are going to kill him / her. If a dog is cornered or so exhausted they can no longer run they are going to fight in order to preserve what life they have left. They truly believe human is going to kill them in this moment. This is where you (the human) make good dogs bad. If the dog bites, you step back and and cry victim even though you have been told not to engage. Now, this dog just survived and suffered for days, weeks or months on its own just to be euthanized - Tragedy #2.
You will notice that all of our signs and graphics state "DO NOT YELL, CHASE, OR APPROACH" This is the reason why. Please allow people who have experience and are trained to safely capture a scared dog do so. We can avoid all of the above this way.
A dog can enter survival mode very quickly. Sometimes within minutes or sometimes not at all. Survival mode varies from dog to dog. Their reactions to situations also vary. Once a dog enters survival mode they will not recognize their human. Its not to be taken personally, they still love you, its just their way of keeping themselves safe. Something the public does not get to witnesses is a dog coming out of survival mode. It is absolutely one the most magical and emotional things I get to see when pets are reunited.
This post is not intended to criticize anyone but to help educate the community for future lost dogs."
