I knew that this week, right before the holidays, our small business spotlight had to feature something warm and fuzzy and completely heartwarming. I was going for It’s A Wonderful Life meets The Miracle on 34th Street meets a batch of chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. And I think I almost got it.
A missing pet can be as gut-wrenching as it is time consuming, and it’s not quite socially accepted for people to take large chunks of time off from work to search for a lost pet. That’s where NinjaDog Concepts comes in. Sarah and her team work 24/7 and launch full-scale search operations to recover a missing pet. She takes care of posting pictures, responding to leads, and would probably even take on a mountain lion barehanded if it meant returning a pet to its owner. NinjaDog Concepts’ big heart is only matched by their willingness to go through any hoops to return missing pets. That’s definitely a great sentiment to get behind this holiday season.
NinjaDog Concepts is based in Los Angeles, they also provide a list of resources for those with missing pets.
Sarah had some more to say about her amazing lost-dog-sniffing abilities:
How would you explain what you do to somebody’s grandmother?
NinjaDog Concepts works 24/7 to help people find their lost pets by creating and managing full-scale search operations. Many people work or have other obligations that prevent them from being able to drop everything and look for their lost pet, as much as they would like to. NinjaDog Concepts exists to take care of flyering, networking, using social media, responding to sightings, and everything in between!
What are some industry specific challenges you faced?
Some of NinjaDog Concepts’ challenges are dealing with the sprawling geography of Los Angeles, battling wildlife like coyotes, bears, and mountain lions that can go after loose pets, and educating people on the important of prevention (like keeping pets indoors/in secure yards, keeping current ID tags on them at all times, and microchipping them).
What’s the craziest story you have from starting your own business?
The craziest story? They’re all crazy when you chase missing dogs for a living. And by “chase,” I mean, “crouch in a calm way and throw hamburgers at them until them come to you.” I’ve (literally) crawled through drainage ditches, hopped fences, hung out with homeless folks, and traipsed through bramble in the hills to track dogs. We always find dogs because of a confluence of all sorts of seemingly random happenings, which makes every recovery seems like a crazy miracle to me, no matter how many we do. (more…)
