Social media helps reunite parted pups and owners

Kelly Wenz never imagined a night out at the bar would end up with her taking care of a lost dog. She also never envisioned that a simple Instagram post would lead her to the pet’s rightful owner.

While out recently, the Valley Stream resident said a friend of her boyfriend’s came into a pub with a lost little white dog he found wandering around on Sunrise Highway.

“Me and my boyfriend got attached to the dog very quickly,” Wenz recalled.

Wenz opted to take the dog, named Buddy, home that night and posted pictures of the lost pet on Instagram using the hashtag “#lostdog." About 18 hours later, Buddy’s owner saw the post and contacted Wenz. She gave the dog back to its owner after they gave her the number of a chip embedded into him and she verified it with a veterinarian.

Wenz said she never imagined Instagram would be a powerful enough tool to reconnect the dog and its owner. “I was very surprised, especially via Instagram,” she said. ”I didn’t see it coming.”

More and more, social media is used as a tool to reunite dog owners with their lost pets. The Friends of Valley Stream Dog Park has played an instrumental role in finding dogs that have wandered away within the village by spreading awareness through posts and photos on Facebook.

“What we’ve tried to do is encourage anybody in the area to use our Facebook page as a resource when they lost a dog or found a dog on the streets,” said Richard Infield, president of the dog park. “When you lose a dog, what you really need is lots of people to know that you’re looking for the dog, what the dog looks like and kind of pull in all the kind of benefits that social networking provides.”

Infield said now that the dog park has been established for a few years, he works to provide other services. They include helping owners locate lost dogs, encouraging people to adopt pets and training dogs.

“We always wanted to be a service to dog owners, more than just having and maintaining and supporting the dog park,” Infield said. “It was more to being a service to the dog owners of Valley Stream.”

Denise Bernard, who serves on the committee for the dog park, said social media has been a very useful tool, even for new residents to Valley Stream.

According to Bernard, over the summer, a person who had recently moved to the area lost their dog, a 130-pound Great Dane named Skylie, and the whole community rallied together. Skylie was discovered less than a week later about one mile away from her home.

“I can’t even imagine how lost dogs were found before social media,” Bernard said. “If someone lost a dog, yes they could put up flyers and call the cops and call all the vets, but information is spread so quickly through the Internet.”

Social media has become vital in tracking lost pets in many different areas. Dianne Scheer, who works with Fur Babies Rescue and Referral, a volunteer-driven, foster-based rescue that provides dogs temporary homes until they find owners, said Facebook and other devices have become crucial in locating lost animals.

“It’s very important,” Scheer said. “It’s a very great thing with Facebook and all because there’s all different groups and with how many dogs have been found because of it, I think it’s very important.”

Anyone who finds a lost dog is urged to visit the Friends of Valley Stream Dog Park or Missing Angels of Long Island Facebook pages to spread the word.