HomeIf you thought Jim Carrey's profession as a pet detective in the movie Ace Ventura was just a Hollywood fabrication, think again. John Keane, a.k.a. Sherlock Bones, has been a full time pet detective in California for over 20 years.
Ironically, two months before Ace Ventura was released, Keane received a phone call from Jim Carrey's wife at the time, Melissa. She explained that they were getting separated and their child was already upset about that but now to make matters worse they had just lost their Jack Russell terrier. So Keane went to work on the case and within one day Sherlock Bones got his dog.
Even though Keane has worked for such superstars as Robert Redford and Goldie Hawn he wants to keep his services within reach of the average person. "We want to provide a valuable service everyone can afford." Keane said.
With over sixty clients a month seeking his expert advice, most spend on average $200. His services don't include him physically going out to look for your pet, although he use to when he first started. Instead he provides information on how to effectively recover your pet through a combination of specially designed posters and direct mail. It's essential that owners do all the right things from the start so they have a better chance in getting their pet back, he says. "They need to hit the ground running."
According to Keane most owners are not aware of the serious loopholes in spending hours driving around searching, checking animal shelters, putting up posters, and placing ads in newspapers.
Newspaper ads, for instance, only work if the ad is in the paper when they pick it up and the person who has your pet is looking for you (they might just decide to keep your pet). Besides, says Keane, when's the last time anyone looked in the lost and found section just for the heck of it and then kept an eye out for those lost pets.
The problem with animal shelters is a lot of people who find strays won't turn them in, fearing they'll be destroyed, but this is where most owners look for their missing pet.
As far as driving around the area searching for your animal it might work, but Keane feels it's almost impossible to be in the right place at the right time.
So what should you do? "Leverage yourself through the eyes and ears of other people." says Keane, who starts his investigation by asking a series of questions about your pet's personality and habits. From this he can tell you within how many miles around your home to concentrate your search.
The next step involves putting up posters within this specified area. But sixty percent of his clients said that before they lost their pet they never bothered to look at lost posters.
"This is the crème de la crème of the pet loving public." says Keane. " If their not looking, what's the rest of the world doing out there?" So to grab people's attention, the word REWARD is placed on top of the poster in large red letters followed by a specific dollar amount. Including the amount is very important. In fact, those who state a specific reward have a 225% better chance in getting their pet back than those that don't. As far as the amount, Keane says $150 is usually good and people should remember you don't have to pay a dime unless you get your pet back safely.
Just as important as stating a reward amount, is having a picture of your animal on the poster. The old saying, "a picture's worth a thousand words" holds true. Most people make the mistake of not including one and just put the breed, wrongly assuming people will automatically know what a welsh corgi looks like, for instance.
The last step in Sherlock Bone's plan is to create an awareness about your lost pet over the specified target area by sending out pre-addressed post cards (provided by his company) with your pet's picture and important details on it. Keane says post cards always get looked at since there's nothing to open up and no major time commitment to read them. Besides targeting residents, post cards are also sent to veterinary hospitals within 10 miles from where the pet was lost and shelters within 30 miles.
Keane's success rate runs at 30% based on the average time of 2 1/2 weeks before a client comes to him for help. One of the best things owners can do to protect their pets, Keane stresses, is to keep i.d. tags on them at all times. Even with a staggering 10 million pets lost every year most people don't think it will happen to them. "But they never counted on the pool man leaving the gate open." he said. "It happens. Put tags on."
For a free consultation call Sherlock Bones at 1-800-942-6637 or visit his website at www.sherlockbones.com
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