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May 2, 2026 16 mins

It takes just seconds for a dog to escape - an accidentally unlocked door, a slightly-too-loose harness - and it can be absolutely devastating when you realize your beloved pet is gone. Hundreds of volunteers at Missing Dogs Massachusetts are ready and waiting to help, with flyers for social media, trapping services, and much more, all at no cost. Kris Ericson, President of Missing Dogs Massachusetts, talks with Nichole about their work and why it's so important for these volunteers to ensure as many pups as possible return home to their family.

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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here, we come together and talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. Thanks for tuning in again this week. I'm
Nicole Davis. It can happen in seconds. You look around,
you see the door is open when it shouldn't be.
Maybe the car windows down just a little bit too far,
and you're stopped at a light. A harness is suddenly

(00:30):
sitting there in the yard and the dog's not in it.
Our beloved dogs can disappear so quickly in the blink
of an eye. Because they love to roam, they love
to explore. It can feel, though, so overwhelming, to go
out and try and find them. Where do you start?
That's where Missing Dogs Massachusetts comes in. They are a
team of volunteers at They're ready no matter what time
or day it is, to help you, support you and

(00:50):
find your pet at no cost. Chris Erickson is the
president of Missing Dogs Massachusetts. Chris, thank you so much
for your time. So how does this all come together?
Who is Missing Dogs in Massachusetts?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So? Missing Dogs mass was founded in twenty fourteen out
of a need or we discovered there was a need
for an organization to cover Massachusetts, and then from there
we kind of morphed into also covering Rhode Island, some
of us on the board here at Missing Dogs Maths.

(01:22):
We volunteered with another organization that used to cover the northeast,
and then it became evident over time that sort of
maybe each state might be better suited to branch off
and start their own organization. So that's what a group
of us did myself, I think it was four other

(01:43):
individuals at that time. Some have left. Unfortunately, some founding
members have passed away, and so we have a newer board.
Over the years, you know, positions morph and change all
the time, and here we are in twenty twenty six.
It's been a nice long journey. We're obviously always growing,

(02:08):
like you said earlier, looking for new volunteers things like that.
That was sort of how we were born, and then
organically we started doing Rhode Island, and we're also looking
for volunteers in Rhode Island as well to kind of
build upon more of our mission and what we do
to help owners get their dogs back home.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
And I think this is something that a lot of
people can relate to because if you're a dog owner,
which I am, if there's any sort of inkling that
your pet is missing or there's something wrong, you're going
to jump in immediately, and this panic kind of comes up.
So I think a lot of people can understand the
urgency of trying to get a pop back home to
their owner, for sure.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
And I think, you know, sometimes what happens is none
of us are ever really prepared for when that moment,
you know, comes God forbid. So we're sort of here
and we have, you know, online and via word of mouth,
we kind of provide the tools and direction for owners

(03:14):
because you're in a panic, you don't know what to do.
You have, you know, we all know. The first place
a lot of people go to this to social media.
And that's a great tool in many instances, but then
that can become a very quickly overwhelming tool because you
have so many people giving you so many suggestions and
advice and what should you do? Do this and go

(03:35):
out and call your dog, and call this one and
call that one. And what we're seeing in more recent
years from that social media presence is also the social
media presence comes with so much good, but then it
also comes with scammers out there trying to take owners
for money and things like that when their pets are

(03:57):
mid things. So we kind of have what we call
like a blueprints where we essentially go through steps of
you know, what should you be doing once your dog
goes missing, and we kind of walk owners through that.
You know, simple first steps. Have you contracted the animal
can contacted animal control because a lot of times sometimes

(04:19):
the dog has already been picked up by someone or
even by animal control. If the dog doesn't have tags
or identifying information or even a micro chip, then you
know that that simple call to animal control could already
have their dog back. And then from there we kind
of build upon that. We every time an owner loses

(04:43):
a dog and they choose the contact missing Dog's Masks,
they fill out a form with us that has, you know,
a lot of information on their dog, and then from there,
one of our volunteers reaches out to those owners and
kind of walks through, tell me a little bit about
what happened when your dog went missing. We kind of
vet things like is it a brand new rescue? How

(05:05):
long have you had the dog, because sometimes those things
will play into how the outcome might be, you know,
newer adoptions, they don't even know you, they're not bonded
with you. And then you have families you know that
they've had dogs their entire lives, so we kind of
walk them through what are the steps, contacting local vets, shelters,

(05:29):
getting flyers up. You know, we work cohesively with many
law enforcement entities, animal control entities, state police. I mean,
we we work with them all throughout the state states,
I should say, and they're great tools for us to

(05:50):
have in our pockets, and they kind of defer to
us sometimes when there's animals lost in their towns. They
may say, you know, we're gonna involve missing dog's masks.
We work side by side with them, which is great.
And then sometimes you know, if the process continues for
owners and the dog is still missing, then we have

(06:11):
ability to provide humane trapping cameras that you know, monitor
these traps and feeding stations if need be. We kind
of have we sort of have the process down to
a science that I mean for us, and you know,
in an ideal world, there wouldn't be any need for

(06:33):
an organization like ours and the others that are out there.
But we know that you know, the pet industry is huge.
They are our babies. Our family members will go to
the ends of the earth for them. So we're here
as you know that support. And again we're all volunteers,
so nobody here is paid. We all have families and

(06:53):
jobs and everything that goes, you know, along with that,
but you know we're here to help.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
However, we can grateful that you're there to help and
make sure that everybody, the dog, the human, the families,
everybody gets through a really traumatic process as best they can.
And I'm sure you were talking about your volunteers. I'm
sure as you get more known and as your resources
become more utilized, you need more and more of these volunteers.

(07:20):
So somebody is listening to all the great work you're
doing and they're thinking, I want to get involved. How
can they do that?

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, so we if they go to our website Missing
Dogs maths amass dot com. Okay, there is a section
on the website that is it says about MVM, and
then there is a tab that you can click for
volunteer and then they can fill out a volunteer form
and will be in touch. We do conduct a few

(07:47):
volunteer trainings a year, which is done remotely, and then
from there we peer people up with sort of like
a senior volunteer or a senior person here that can
kind of then sort of get their feet wet, so
to speak, and determine, you know, what they might want
to do here as an organization, because we have you know,

(08:09):
administrative roles that are posting all those dogs you see online,
making the fire. Then we have people that make the
phone calls to owners that they like doing that piece
of it. And then we also have the field work
aspect of trap trapping and other things, and some people
they're like, well, I don't really want to do that,

(08:30):
so we kind of see, you know, where you want
to go with your volunteering. I know, for a lot
of people, sort of naturally, as you become more involved
in the organization, you may have thought, hey, I don't
think I want to do any field work. But then
as time goes on and you become vested in the
case and stuff, then you say, oh, yeah, I think

(08:52):
I want to try trapping and see, you know, can
I do that? Can I help with that? And stuff?
And there's so many other things. We do a lot
of networking events. We reach out to a lot of
rescues to provide educational tools to them as they you know,
rescues are adopting out hundreds of dogs a day. We
want to provide you know, safety information to keep those

(09:12):
dogs safe. We have events that people can attend if
they love to go out and you know, talk with
people and things like that. But a lot of different
things that they could do here, not just do one
thing at all. If that's that's the best I could
put it right.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Right, And and to be blunt, honestly, your services are
always in need. I see posts all the time of
your flyers on most social media platforms that I'm on,
and sadly, unfortunately, pops are going to run out of
the house, They're going to jump out of the car.
They are wily little creatures and sometimes not so little,
And so you are always going to be in demand

(09:48):
for better or worse.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes, yes, And we're seeing you know, with the you know,
now we're getting into sort of the summer months, so
that tends to be like lots of people on vacations
and maybe maybe a pet sitter fell through, and so
they're looking for just anybody on a pinch, and you know,
they may not be fully qualifying you know, who might

(10:13):
be watching their pets. So you know, we definitely try
and this time of the year really beef up you know,
education and other things because summers get busy fourth of
July historically, like the two weeks before Fourth of July
to the two weeks after when everyone's lighting off fireworks, know,

(10:35):
the efety messages all the time. And you know, even
if we can just keep you know, a handful of
dogs from not running away during the fireworks, that makes
our lives easier because it's it's a busy time of
the year of vacations. But for missing dogs mass it's
like every season, like if if you know, whoever you
are as a volunteers, if you're around during Fourth of July,

(10:58):
please let us know because it's sort of like sadly
in all hands on that kind of scenario.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
In every neighborhood, there's always one that always just breaks
them out too much. My poor dog, you know, crawls
under the couch and just shivers, and you know, I
don't think people realize sometimes how severely dogs are impacted
by fireworks. It's really a terrifying thing for them.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
It is definitely terrifying, and we and you know, you
think like, oh, I've been to you know, a parade,
or I've been to cook Oats or I've been to
wherever and my dog's hurd fireworks and they're fine with it.
But it all it takes is that one time that
they're not okay with it and then I have a
lost dog. We so we don't know, no, And then

(11:43):
like you know, on this sort of the heels of
the fireworks, pet sitters, you know, what type of recovery
plan does your pets that are have in place if
you're away, you know, out of the country, in another state,
wherever you might be. You know, I will say, well,
all over the state we see it. But especially we
have a lot of more of people who are coming

(12:05):
back and forth, like on Cape Cod. You know, some
months are coming, so they're there for you know, either
the season or a few weeks, and then you know
they have to go home and the last thing they
want is their dog going missing while they're down the
cape and a pet sitter is watching their dog and
things like that. So again we just really try and
beef up safety and education for owners in that respect

(12:32):
and stuff. But I mean, we're here, will you know,
hopefully always be here. But again we're always, like I said,
looking for volunteers and things like that.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
For sure, do you need donations? And if so, I
mean I feel like every nonprofit I've ever talked to
always needs donations. But could you use them? And if so,
how can people donate and keep you going that way?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yes, that's I mean, we appreciate any and all donations. Again,
none of us are paid. It's all you know in
our expectation isn't you know when we help an owner
that we're going to get a donation. Our goal is
to get the dog back. But obviously donations are you know,
gratefully welcome and we're so thankful for them. But again,

(13:21):
to go on our website, there is a little link
at the top for donating. It has various ways you
can donate, and then there's also if people like to
some people like to you know, mail a check versus
doing transactions online. So there is our address and our
tax id number and everything on there. And then if
if someone does donate, they get an acknowledgment from us

(13:42):
for you know, their tax records and things. We're you know,
so thankful for the donations that we've we have, and
we've been fortunate enough that with those donations we have
kind of paid it back. Like right now, we're in
the process of awarding some grants to various rescues throughout
the state for Martingale callers, which is a if you're

(14:06):
not familiar with it, it's essentially a non slip collar
that you can put on your dog want non slip
if it's fitted properly. But we do grants to rescues
that are approved, you know, in the state of Massachusetts
to the Department of Agriculture to adopt out dogs and
we provide Martin Gale grants to them because essentially every

(14:28):
dog you adopt out should be leaving hopefully with the
Martingale caller on. It's just one less thing because we
hear so many times they leave wherever they've adopted the dog.
They go off to a cut store and they buy
the cute you know, pink collar of the cute you know,
they have a little chihuaur and they want to get
the fancy spiked collar for the Chihuahua. And then yeah,

(14:51):
the dog immediately flips the collar, you know, and like
I said, the Martin Gale caller is fitted properly is
essentially a non lips call is maybe a few breeds
they could potentially slip out of it because of the
shape of their heads, but you don't hear about that
very often, but you know, it's a huge thing. Rescues

(15:12):
are so grateful to have those because the calls can
be expensive, and so we're able to kind of pay
that forward in hopes of, you know, keeping some dogs
safe through these rescues as they adopt out. And then
we also provide them with like our literature and everything
to go with their packets too. On loss prevention, we
have like racked cards that one side has lost prevention,

(15:33):
and then if you flip it over, it's like what
to do what to do with your dog goes missing?

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Okay, well, missingdogs mass dot com. That's missing Dogs m
a ss dot com. There's a donate button here. I'm
on the website right now. There's a donate button at
the top of the page. If you've lost a pup,
if you found a pup. If all of a sudden
you're driving down the road and there's a puppy there
and you're thinking, oh my gosh, this is not my dog,
but whose dog are you you can help in that

(15:58):
instance as well. You've got to You've got lots of
great information here. Christ. This is really just a treasure
trove of help for dog owners. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Thank you as well. We appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
Have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join us again
next week for another edition of the show. I'm Nicole
Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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