For Tami Binkard, the theft of her boxer puppy, Jessi, last month didn't come as a surprise. Her English setter was stolen shortly after her family onto Good Hope in August.

But she was surprised by Jessi's sudden return.

"My kids spread the word at school it was a felony to steal a dog," Binkard said. "A few days later, my son was home alone and he heard a knock on the door. He opened it, and there was our dog."

At least eight dogs have been reported stolen to the Cape Girardeau Police Department this year, according to incident reports.

Cape Girardeau Animal Control officer Aaron Baughn said most dogs stolen in Cape Girardeau are either pit bulls or boxers mistaken for pit bulls. The dogs are often taken outside the area or state to be trained for dog fighting, Baughn said.

"They'll grab boxers, thinking they're pits, but they get disappointed quick because boxers aren't nearly as aggressive," he said.

To discourage theft, Baughn recommends some pet owners consider protecting their pooches by punching small holes in their dogs' collars and using a small padlock to connect them to a chain.

Simple steps

A few other simple steps can give pet owners a better chance of reuniting with their animals if they become separated.

Beyond using collars with name tags or small identification tattoos, pet owners also can use computers to keep track of their furry loved ones. Many local animal clinics and shelters recommend microchips as the best method of locating a lost animal.

Skyview Animal Clinic in Cape Girardeau embeds about 50 pets a year with microchips containing identity numbers specific to each animal. The clinic began this quick, and relatively painless, procedure about six years ago, said veterinarian Christi Foutz.

Animals are injected with a chip using a large needle between their shoulder blades. No stitches or anesthetic are required for the procedure, which costs $30 at the clinic.

The chip's information is stored in a global computer database, PETtrac, which has distributed more than 17,000 free scanners to clinics and shelters. Once a chip is scanned on an animal, clinics and shelters then call PETtrac and learn the identity of the pet's owner.

"There's very seldom a week that goes by when we don't get at least one call about a missing pet," said Skyview receptionist Linda Essner said. "Unfortunately, very few of the callers tell us their pets are chipped. Which would help, because if we have a found animal brought to us, the first thing we do is scan for a chip."

Binkard said her dogs have been outfitted with identifying microchips but said the microchips couldn't have helped in Jessi's case.

"Microchips help if an honest person finds your dog and takes it in to a shelter," Binkard said. "But if the dog is stolen, the best thing you can do is start posting pictures of the dog everywhere."

Foutz said pet owners who have lost or stolen animals should do just that and call all area animal clinics and shelters as soon as possible.

"We tell them to actually go out to the Humane Society, don't just call them and describe your dog or cat," Foutz said. "Go and walk through and look, if for no other reason than how the owner describes the breed may not exactly be how other people see it."

Shelters offer help

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri receives at least 15 calls a week from frantic pet owners looking for their lost animals, said Donna Ernest, executive director.

"It's very hard to match an animal back to its owner," she said. "That's why we chip every animal adopted from here. If an animal has no tags and no chip, there is no easy way to find their owner."

Large dogs are more often brought to the shelter as lost than are small dogs, because large dogs are typically kept outdoors and able to get out of the yard, Ernest said.

"We don't get as many calls on cats," she said. "Cat owners don't worry as much, it seems, because cats are more independent and people rarely put collars and tags on them."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160