Over the past few years, I’ve received many emails from readers sharing cool stories of how social media has had a positive impact on their business. But social media helping a couple of Newfoundlands find their way back home? That was a first. Enjoy.

Corey,

I thought you might appreciate a social media story with a few unexpected twists.

As I was returning home from a six mile run yesterday, I noticed my neighbor walking over to her baby stroller. Turns out she left it in our other neighbors’ front yard while she frantically tried to corral two grown Newfoundlands that were roaming the neighborhood. With the assistance of the UPS driver who happened to be there, she put the dogs in the neighbors’ fenced-in back yard.

Eager to reunite the dogs with their family, we started to call our friends to see if anyone knew who the dogs belonged to as they didn’t have any tags. Phone calls, emails, and other traditional methods yielded no real leads.

Within minutes after listing the dogs’ picture on two social media pages, I received some solid leads. The first narrowed it down to a specific block in the neighborhood. Shortly thereafter, I received a few instant messages via facebook. These listed the dogs’ names and address. (Funny how people remember dogs’ names and not their humans’ names.). I called the dogs by name and they responded, so I knew we had a match.

What makes me think you might appreciate this is that the messages were being sent from Germany. It was around 8:30 p.m. there, and my friend logged on one last time after putting her kids to bed. Turns out she used to live in this neighborhood and the dogs’ family lived across the street from her.

When I stopped by the family’s house, the mother answered the door, and neither she nor two of her sons knew the dogs were missing. (Ugh!!) While I was there, her third son was at school and saw the post I made on our organization’s facebook page. He posted his contact information and called home. The mother sent her sons to retrieve the dogs.

While this was going on, the contractors who were working in the back yard (and left the gate open allowing the dogs to roam free) were cruising around the neighborhood. They asked one of my friends if she had seen two black dogs. She said she hadn’t, but she saw the post on our facebook page. One of them pulled out his iPhone, “liked” our organization, saw the post, and identified the dogs. Seems they were trying to get the dogs back before the family found out.

Had we relied on traditional methods, the dogs would probably still be in my neighbors’ back yard. Instead, they were reunited with their family in a very short time. No word on whether the contractors were invited to return.

Tom

Thanks for reminding us of the power of social media Tom! Corey

 

 

(photo credit: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images16/NewfoundlandsSatchelJack – not actual dogs)