NMHP Forum - How big of an award should we offer?

Another question from Melinda (with the scared, heartworm positive dog):How do you know how much reward to give? What may not be insulting but within your budget? Thanks!

Answer from Kat:

The larger the reward that you offer, the more incentive you will provide for someone to call you if they see your dog or even think they have seen your dog. With a big reward, you will motivate people to search for your pet who might not normally have taken the time to do so.

If you announce that you are offering a reward of $ 100, that probably would be a lot of money to a neighborhood child but it wouldn't be much to an electrician who lived around the corner from you. But a $ 1,000 or $ 5,000 reward IS a lot of money and this would motivate people to actually start looking for you. But the down side to offering a big reward is that it would generate false leads and it would make you the target of scammers.

To avoid being scammed, be sure to keep a few details about the lost dog secret (scars, spots, specifics about the collar, etc.) so that you can make sure the person who claims they have your dog actually does have your dog. Do not ask leading questions like, "Does he have a red collar?" but instead ask open-ended questions like, "Does he have a collar and if so, what color is it?" Ask the caller general questions and let them give you the specifics. Never agree to wire money to anyone who claims to have your dog - there are "truck driver scams" and other scams out there where people will see your reward in the local paper, claim they found your dog while driving through the area, and they will ship your dog back home if you just wire them the money. Be sure to check out http://www.scambusters.org/petscams.html which describes a couple of these scams. The key is that when anyone calls you to say they have found your dog that you should not let them question you, but you should control the questioning with open-ended (not leading) questions to get information from them.

But if you are like me and you don't have an extra $ 1,000 or even $ 500 floating around, then I would just suggest that you do NOT list the reward amount and just say "REWARD." If someone calls and you know they have your dog but your $ 50.00 reward is not large enough for them and they attempt to extort more money from you, that is a crime (as are the other scams I mentioned above) and you need to call the police. So my recommendation is that unless you can offer a $ 500.00 or above reward, don't list the amount of the reward. I also suggest that you visit http://www.sherlockbones.com because John Keane (pet detective) has years of experience in how and where to post flyers and offer rewards. He has more knowledge and experience in this area than I do, so if my information conflicts with his suggestions, go with what he suggests.

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Posted on SHARE Yahoo group June 10, 2005