Lost dog in Toronto: 311, City shelters and where to look

Your dog is missing in Toronto. Here is who to call, and in what order.

In Toronto, report a lost dog to Toronto Animal Services at 416-338-PAWS (7297) or through 311, with a description, the licence number, the microchip number and a photo; the City’s lost and found pets page explains the process. Check the City’s stray-animals list for animals found in the last 14 days and the shelter holding them. Call the three City shelters and the Toronto Humane Society. Update the microchip registry so that whoever scans your dog can reach you. For the search itself, see our guide to the first hour after a dog goes missing; this page covers the Toronto side.

Who do you call first?

Animal Services, and the City says to do it whether or not your dog has a licence. The lost and found page asks owners to contact Toronto Animal Services at 416-338-PAWS (7297) or 311 “to file a lost animal report”, and to “provide description of pet, licence number and microchip number”, with a photo ready for staff. The same page tells people who find a dog to report it to 311 right away, whether or not they could catch it, so owners and finders both report to the City.

Animal Services’ shelter line runs 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. for appointments. Outside those hours, call 311. The same offices handle a lost cat, though the search is different; where to search for a lost cat in the first week is the cat version.

Where do you look online?

Check both City lists and register with the database the City recommends. The City publishes a stray animals report, “a list of lost animals found within the last 14 days, including where they were found and which shelter they are at now”, and separately a list of deceased animals found in the last 30 days. Check the first list morning and evening; it is where a dog picked up by an officer or brought in by a finder appears.

The City also asks owners to register the dog with Helping Lost Pets, a lost-pet database it links to from its own page. Our guide to tracing an owner from a rabies or licence tag explains how a finder uses the tag on your dog’s collar.

Which shelters hold a dog that was picked up?

Start with the City’s three shelters. The Animal Shelters page lists the West Shelter at 146 The East Mall, the North Shelter at 1300 Sheppard Avenue West and the East Shelter at 821 Progress Avenue. All three are open to the public “by appointment only” for pet redemption, booked by calling 416-338-PAWS between 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and closed on statutory holidays, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Remembrance Day and Easter Monday. The page says the shelters reunite more than 2,000 lost animals with their guardians each year.

The City also lists what a reunion costs. Its lost and found page gives the fees if your pet ends up at a City shelter as $40 for a dog plus $20 a day, and $30 plus $10 a day for a cat. A dog without a current licence will be licensed before it leaves; the Toronto pet licence is the guide for that, and the licence tag can help an officer identify a dog on the street.

The Toronto Humane Society is a separate organisation with its own intake. Its found-pet page tells finders that a dog or cat wearing a City of Toronto tag should go through 311, and otherwise to contact 311 for next steps, so finders contact the City either way. Call the Humane Society as well.

What should you do on the street?

Search on foot in the direction the dog was last seen, and tell every person you pass. The step-by-step search is in the first hour after a dog goes missing; the two Toronto-specific points are these.

First, the City says do not chase. Its advice to finders is to approach slowly, not to run toward a loose dog, and to let it come to them, so ask your own neighbours to do the same. Tell people to sit down and call you rather than grab.

Second, check the nearby ravine entrances and off-leash areas. Walk the nearest of each at dawn and ask anyone there. Our guide to Toronto’s off-leash dog park rules describes those areas; your dog may head for one it knows.

What if the dog is found by someone else first?

They may call the number on the licence tag, the clinic on the rabies tag, or the microchip registry. The City’s own page lists one step for owners after the report is filed: “Contact your microchip provider to ensure your contact information is up to date.” Do it on day one. Our guide to checking and updating a microchip record walks through the lookup; a chip linked to a previous owner or a disconnected number can leave a found dog in a shelter even though the chip works.

Once the dog is home, the City asks for three things: call 311 to close the report, update the Helping Lost Pets posting, and take down every flyer.

Where Dana fits

Animal Services asks for the microchip and licence numbers, a description and a recent photo. Dana keeps the microchip number and the vet’s details in the dog’s health record, visible to every caregiver in the household. The licence and certificates sit in Records Vault, part of Dana Pro. The person at home can file the 311 report and call the registry while the person outside keeps walking. The checklist for the first hour is in the pet emergency plan; the pet health records guide covers the record itself.