Missing

Lost dog posters - you see people stapling them to poles in every town in America.

And each flier tells a heartbreaking story.

Camie Wereley's dog, Izzie, bolted out of the house in the middle of a neighborhood fireworks barrage. Terrified by the noise, Izzie remains missing today.

"I'm so sad," Wereley said. "Before this happened, I had no idea how many dogs and cats are not found. When you suffer a loss like this, you kind of have days when you are full of energy and then days when you feel totally hopeless."

For advice on how to go about her search, Wereley contacted Carmel Travis, a pet rescue specialist.

"Since I've had training in finding missing pets, I wanted to help," Travis said. "I've been coaching Camie and sharing tips on how to find her dog."

Wereley initially called the Coeur d'Alene police to report Izzie missing to Animal Control. Then she began posting fliers.

"People disagreed on whether I should include Izzie's name on the flyer and whether or not to include information on the reward I was offering."

Wereley also hired a dog tracker; placed weekly newspaper ads; posted her fliers at area animal hospitals, pet supply stores, groomers, dog boarding kennels and animal shelters; went online daily to check the Lost and Found and Pets sections on Craigslist; visited the Kootenai Humane Society and other local animal control shelters weekly and created a Facebook page entitled "Find Izzie."

And she searched and she searched and she searched.

Christie Duran lost her shih tzu-terrier, Prescha, on the Fourth of July.

"The first night I spent until 4 a.m. looking for her. The next day I took my other two dogs for a walk to try to get them to pick up her scent. After that, we did things like fliers, Craigslist and Facebook.

More than two months after Prescha went missing, Duran is still devastated. "The worst of it is not knowing whether she's out there or not."

The fact that both these dogs went missing as a result of fireworks explosions is no coincidence. According to Michelle Gilbertson, Coeur d'Alene animal control officer, "If you think about how loud fireworks sound to us, think of 10 times that sound and you'll know what a dog hears - it's crazy loud. You can pretty much guarantee that the morning after the Fourth we'll get a lot of lost-pet calls.

"We do keep a pet file to match our lost dogs with our found dogs. And most people do get their dogs back. Dogs kind of stay close to home, so wherever you took your dog for walks, that's probably the area you'll find them.

Travis advised that if you see a dog running loose, don't try to catch it. "It's very important never to chase a skittish dog who's running away because, among other things, it might run right in front of a car." The best thing to do is contact Animal Control.

Both Gilbertson and Travis said that microchipping your pet is an excellent way to ensure their return. "All shelters and vets are supposed to scan for microchips," Travis said.

For tips on finding a missing pet: missingpetpartnership.org