Lost dog? What to do if your dog goes missing (UK)

• Go back to where your dog was last seen with a lead, treats and a favourite squeaky toy. Battersea and Petlog both say familiar smells and sounds can draw a dog back to you.
• Walk your usual routes, and check building sites nearby and your old address if you've moved recently (Dogs Trust and Battersea).
• Ask neighbours to check their sheds, garages, conservatories and greenhouses, and check hiding places at home too if your dog is small.
• Tell dog walkers, and people who cover a wide area every day, such as postal workers and delivery drivers.
• Keep your phone on you, and make sure someone can answer the number on your dog's tag while you're out looking.
• If you spot your dog, try not to chase: a frightened dog runs further. Crouch down, call calmly and let them come to you.

If your dog wears a PetTag, turn on lost mode from your dashboard (how to log in). Anyone who scans the tag sees a clear "reported missing" alert with your contact options, and you're emailed when the tag is scanned, often with an approximate location.

Report your dog missing to the database their microchip is on, and check your phone number and address are right, so a vet or warden who scans the chip can reach you. Dogs Trust and Battersea point out that the database can then warn you if anyone tries to change the chip's details, and Petlog can send alerts out to its network.

Stray dogs go to the council. By law (section 149 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990), the council only has to keep a stray for seven clear days, after which it can rehome or sell the dog. Dogs Trust says it's five days in Northern Ireland. So call your council's dog warden or stray dog service as soon as you can, and call the neighbouring councils too, because dogs can travel further than you'd think. GOV.UK can find your council from your postcode.

The council has to keep a register of the stray dogs it has taken in, and anyone can look at it free of charge. Out of hours it varies: some councils have an emergency number, some charge more for dogs collected outside office hours, and a few have no dedicated dog warden at all.

Don't assume your dog will be returned automatically. In the Dogs Trust Stray Dog Survey 2025, only 38% of the stray dogs UK councils took in were reunited with their owners, the lowest since the survey began in 1997, and more were passed on to rescue and welfare charities than went home.

The law sets a £25 fee (the Environmental Protection (Stray Dogs) Regulations 1992), and on top of that you pay the council's costs of keeping your dog. Those vary a lot. From each council's own website:

• Calderdale: £25, a £30 admin fee and £17.28 a day, so £72.28 after one day and £175.96 after seven.
• Every other council: see our table of dog warden fees for every UK council.
• Blackpool: £25, a £45.12 admin fee and £12.27 for each 24 hours in kennels.
• South Oxfordshire: £198.50 in office hours, or £230.50 if your dog was found out of hours, plus £31 a day for kennelling.
• Dorset: £25, a £155 admin fee and the kennel's daily charge.

Vet treatment is usually extra, and you'll need proof that the dog is yours. Our guide to getting your dog back from the dog warden covers what to bring.

• Local vets, in case your dog was hurt and someone took them in.
• Rescue centres and kennels nearby, and their lost-and-found lists. For a pedigree dog, Dogs Trust suggests breeders and breed rescues too.
• In London, Battersea runs a lost dogs and cats line.
• Ring them again every day or two, and visit if you can. In the US study, owners who got their dog back had contacted an animal agency sooner (a median of one day, against two), and when they went back to check, they went every couple of days.

• DogLost is free and run by volunteers. It alerts members within up to 30 miles, and its homepage counted more than 115,000 reunions in October 2026.
• Animal Search UK is free to report a missing pet on. The RSPCA says every pet it finds is registered there, so it's worth doing even if you use other sites.

• Put posters up where your dog went missing, in plastic sleeves so the rain doesn't ruin them, and through doors on the streets nearby (Battersea's tips). Dogs Trust suggests supermarket, library and newsagent noticeboards too. Ask before you put posters up in public places, and check where you can legally put them up.
• Post in local Facebook groups, lost dog groups and on Nextdoor, with a clear photo, where and when your dog was last seen, and one phone number. Add "please don't chase", so a frightened dog isn't driven further away.
• Petlog suggests telling local radio and the local paper as well.
• Watch out for scams. Blue Cross warns about callers who say they've found your dog and ask for a "processing fee" or vet costs, and PDSA advises against offering a reward, which can attract people who are only after the money. Our guide to lost pet scams has the warning signs.

• Report it to the police on 101 or online, and get a crime reference number. Blue Cross, Dogs Trust and the Royal Kennel Club all say to make sure it's recorded as stolen, not as lost.
• Ask your microchip database to mark your dog as stolen, and give them the crime reference number.
• Keep an eye on pet sale websites and noticeboards, as Dogs Trust suggests.
• Taking or keeping a dog from its owner has been a crime in England and Northern Ireland since 24 August 2024, under the Pet Abduction Act 2024, with up to five years in prison. Scotland's Dog Theft (Scotland) Act 2026 became law in February 2026 but isn't in force yet. Our guide to protecting your dog from theft has more.

A driver who hits a dog must stop, and if they don't give their details to someone there with a reason to ask, report it to the police within 24 hours (section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988). So the police may know. On motorways and major A roads, National Highways records any dog found by the road and must scan it for a microchip, a transport minister told Parliament in 2023. On other roads, most councils scan dogs they collect, but as good practice rather than law, so ask your council too.

• In a national US survey of dog owners (Weiss and others, 2012), 93% of lost dogs were recovered. Almost half were found by searching the neighbourhood, a fifth came home on their own, and 15% got home because of a tag or microchip.
• In the Ohio study of 187 lost dogs (Lord and others, 2007), 71% got home. Calling and visiting the local animal shelter were the things most linked with getting a dog back, and signs helped most after the first week.
• Both studies are American, so treat the numbers as a guide. There's no equivalent UK study, but the UK charities' advice points the same way: search close to home, call round early, and make sure your dog can be identified.

Check them over and book a vet visit if they're hurt or not themselves. Turn off lost mode, tell the microchip database and DogLost, take your posters down, and thank everyone who helped.

• A collar or tag with your name and address, which is required by law for dogs in public.
• A microchip with up-to-date details. Of the chipped strays councils could check in 2024-25, only 31% had the right owner details on the chip, according to Dogs Trust.
• A QR code dog tag, so whoever finds your dog can reach you in seconds without a trip to a vet or the council.
• A recent photo you can share straight away.
• Extra care around fireworks: Petlog had 81% more dogs reported missing around Bonfire Night and Diwali in 2023 than in the two weeks before.
• A secure garden and front door: see how to stop your dog escaping.