Make a lost dog flyer as soon as you've walked the block once and called your dog's name. Its job is to show everyone who passes (drivers, walkers, the mail carrier) what your dog looks like and who to call. The wording covers a lost dog, a missing cat and a found dog, followed by where to post copies and how to screen calls. The last section puts the words on your own photo with Toybox AI's Smart Editor.
What to put on a lost dog flyer
Write these down biggest first. A flyer for a lost dog is read from a car at a stop sign, so fewer words in bigger type beats more detail.
- "LOST DOG" across the top. The largest text on the page.
- One large, recent photo. Full body, from the side, in daylight, showing the coat color and markings. Skip costumes, filters and close-ups of the nose.
- The dog's name. "Answers to Biscuit." Neighbors calling his name is part of the search.
- Breed, color, size and weight. "Tan and white beagle mix, about 25 lb." AKC Reunite tells owners to give shelters the coat length and color, markings, size and weight, so put those same details on the flyer.
- Where and when last seen. "Near Elm Street and 5th Avenue, Tuesday, October 6, about 6 PM." Cross streets, never your home address.
- One phone number, as big as the name. "Call or text 555-0142, any time." Clear out your voicemail so a caller can leave a message.
- What to do on a sighting. "Please don't chase him. Call, and stay where you can see him."
- Collar and microchip. "Red collar. Microchipped."
- Optional lines. "REWARD" (without an amount) or a medical need, such as "Needs daily heart medication."
Leave one identifying detail off: a scar, a torn ear, a white patch on one paw. It's how you'll check that a caller has really seen your dog.
Lost dog flyer ideas and wording
A lost dog flyer example you can copy
- Headline: "LOST DOG", "MISSING: BISCUIT" or "HAVE YOU SEEN BISCUIT?"
- Supporting lines: "Tan and white beagle mix, 25 lb, red collar." "Last seen near Elm St and 5th Ave, Tuesday, October 6, 6 PM." "Friendly but scared. Please don't chase."
- Call to action: "Call or text 555-0142 any time, day or night."
Flyer for a missing cat
Cats go missing differently, so the wording changes. In a 2010 national phone survey of 1,015 US households that had owned a dog or cat in the previous five years, published in 2012 by researchers from the ASPCA and Ohio State University, 59% of recovered cats came home on their own and 30% were found by searching the neighborhood. That points a cat flyer at the houses nearest yours.
- Headline: "MISSING CAT" or "LOST CAT: PEPPER"
- Supporting lines: "Gray tabby, indoor only, very shy. Probably hiding nearby." "Please check your garage, shed and under your deck."
- Call to action: "If you see her, don't grab her. Call or text 555-0171."
Found dog flyer
A found dog flyer shows the photo but holds back details, so the real owner can prove the dog is theirs.
- Headline: "FOUND DOG" or "IS THIS YOUR DOG?"
- Supporting line: "Found near the Elm Street playground on Sunday, October 11. Male, medium size, no collar."
- Call to action: "Call 555-0156 and describe him to claim him."
Take a found dog to a vet clinic or shelter first. AKC Reunite notes that a veterinarian, shelter or animal control office can read a microchip with a scanner and contact the registry.
Bilingual lost dog flyer
On a bilingual flyer, set each Spanish line right under its English one, with one photo and one number for both: "LOST DOG / PERRO PERDIDO", "Tan and white beagle mix, 25 lb / Beagle mestizo, color canela y blanco, unas 25 libras", "Call or text / Llame o mande un texto: 555-0142". Have a fluent speaker read it before you print. More bilingual wording is on the Spanish flyer page.
Where to post a lost dog flyer
Post within about 2 miles of the last-seen spot, the radius AKC Reunite tells owners to search first. In the ASPCA and Ohio State survey, 49% of recovered dogs were found by searching the neighborhood, 15% came back through an ID tag or microchip, and 6% were found by contacting or visiting animal control. Flyers support that neighborhood search: every person who reads one knows what your dog looks like and who to call.
- Intersections near the last-seen spot, at a driver's eye level, facing traffic. Rules on stapling to utility poles differ from town to town, so check yours first.
- Vet clinics, groomers, pet stores and dog parks. Ask at the counter whether they keep a lost pet board.
- Shelters and animal control. Leave a flyer and go in person. AKC Reunite says to call and visit shelters daily because the staff on duty change from day to day.
- Dog walkers and pet sitters. They cover the same blocks daily. Ask the walkers whose dog walking flyers hang at the coffee shop to take a copy on their route.
- Online. Share the flyer image in neighborhood groups and on the shelter's lost pet page.
- Your microchip registry. Report the dog lost and confirm your phone number is current.
A QR code that opens a post with more photos helps phone users. Make it with any QR generator, paste it onto the flyer, and scan the printed copy; QR codes on flyers explains how large to print one.
Design tips for lost dog flyers
Give the photo half the page. People match a dog by its shape and color, not by reading. The photo goes in the top half, the text in the bottom half.
Use black text on white or bright yellow. Drivers read pole flyers while stopped at the corner, and dark text on a plain, light background reads farther than text on a pattern.
Match the photo to how the dog looks now. If he was groomed short last week, a fluffy photo from last winter will confuse people.
Weatherproof every pole copy. Slide it into a clear sheet protector and tape all four edges, because a bare paper flyer soaks through in the first rain.
Add sightings as they come in. Tape a strip across the flyer: "SEEN Thursday 7 AM, Pine St and 3rd Ave". It tells people the search is still on and where to look.
Flyer template with tear-off tabs
Tear-off tabs let someone take your number without a pen. Leave the bottom 2 inches for 8 to 10 tabs, each reading the dog's name and your number sideways ("Biscuit 555-0142"), then cut the slits after printing. If you can't use your photo, Flyer Maker can set a text-only flyer with a row of tear-off phone tabs; describe the dog in words and ask for the tabs in your description.
Lost dog flyer sizes and printing
Print letter pages for poles and boards, half pages to hand to neighbors, and a 4:5 image for neighborhood groups and texts.
| Paper size | 300 DPI pixels | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Letter, 8.5 x 11 in | 2550 x 3300 | Poles and shelter boards |
| Half letter, 5.5 x 8.5 in | 1650 x 2550 | Door-to-door handouts |
| Tabloid, 11 x 17 in | 3300 x 5100 | Store windows facing the street |
At 4K, a Social (4:5) result from Smart Editor is 2,560 x 3,200 pixels. That prints 8.5 x 10.7 inches at 300 pixels per inch, leaving a thin white band at the bottom of a letter page. A home printer is fine for the first batch. Poster and tabloid details are in standard flyer sizes.
Turn your dog's photo into a lost dog flyer in Smart Editor
Smart Editor changes a single uploaded photo based on what you type, which lets it add the flyer text to the picture of your own dog. You need a Pro plan or higher to use it.
- Open Smart Editor and upload your clearest recent photo under "Your image". It takes JPG or PNG up to 10 MB. If an iPhone photo won't upload, it may be in Apple's HEIF format: on a Mac, open it in Photos or Preview and choose File, then Export, as JPEG. On the iPhone, Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible makes new photos JPEG.
- Paste an instruction into "What should change?" Start from one of the three below and put your dog's details in quotes.
- Under "More options," set Shape to Social (4:5) and Quality to 4K if you'll print it.
- Press "Apply edit". An HD edit currently costs 85 credits and a 4K edit 110; either one usually finishes in about 30 seconds.
- Compare the dog with your photo. The tool redraws the whole picture, so markings, ears or the collar can shift. If anything changed, switch to "Original photo" and run it again. If it keeps changing, put your unedited photo and the same text on a page in any word processor instead.
- Read the phone number digit by digit, then the date and the street names.
- Fix small things on "Latest result". Type the change ("make the phone number twice as big") and press Apply edit again.
Turn this photo into a lost dog flyer. Keep the dog exactly as it looks in my photo: same face, coat colors, markings and red collar. Put the photo large in the top half. Above it, in huge bold black letters: "LOST DOG". Below it: "BISCUIT", "Tan and white beagle mix, 25 lb, red collar", "Last seen near Elm St and 5th Ave, Tuesday, October 6, 6 PM", "Please don't chase him. Call or text 555-0142". White background, black text, no other words.Turn this photo into a missing cat flyer. Keep the cat exactly as it looks in my photo, with the same fur pattern and eye color. Put the photo large in the top half with "MISSING CAT" above it in huge black letters. Below it: "PEPPER, gray tabby, indoor only, very shy", "Missing from Juniper Court since Sunday, October 11", "Please check your garage, shed and under your deck", "Call or text 555-0171". White background, black text, nothing else.Turn this photo into a bilingual lost dog flyer. Keep the dog exactly as it looks in my photo. At the top in huge letters: "LOST DOG / PERRO PERDIDO". Photo large in the middle. Below it: "LUNA, black lab mix, 60 lb / Mezcla de labrador, negra, 60 libras", "Last seen at Pine Street Park, Friday, October 9 / Vista por última vez en Pine Street Park", "Call or text / Llame o mande un texto: 555-0129". Bright yellow background, black text, no other words.No Pro plan, or no usable photo: Flyer Maker works on the Free plan (currently 80 credits per flyer) and designs a text flyer from your description, but it can't place your dog's photo, because its one upload is for a logo. Whichever route you take, tape one test copy to a wall and check it from 10 feet away before you print fifty.