Berks Dog Search co-founder Susie Olson is on lookout for lost dogs 24/7
Retirement has proved eventful for Susie Olson, who six years ago helped create the Berks Dog Search Facebook group, which has more than 17,000 members. The page requires constant attention from Olson and Diane Sereny, who helps run the page, and their colleagues. They use humane traps and Wi-Fi cameras to find lost dogs. Olson’s group recently was in the news for rescuing Eva (previously thought to be spelled Ava), the Americian Eskimo who was lost for 17 days after being involved in a car crash July 29 on Interstate 78 in Berks County that killed a father and son from Schuylkill County and another dog, and left a woman and a third dog injured. Olson is the subject of this week’s Q&A.
Q: Did you ever expect Berks Dog Search to be as big as it is today?
A: We hoped it would be. We hoped everyone in the county would know it as a place for lost dogs. Our main goal was to help people if they lost their dog or if someone found a dog, and to work with our local shelters to reunite dogs.
Q: How has Berks Dog Search impacted your life?
A: I don’t have a life anymore. I call it a non-paying job. Diane [Sereny] and I don’t do much without having to check the page every minute. We have to, you can’t just let a page go like that. It’s a commitment that we made. It’s a 100% commitment. We can check the page one minute and the next, there is a dog on the page. Diane and I talk daily, all day, through the night.
Q: How is it financed? A: Solely on donations, which we don’t get a whole lot of considering the number of our page. We didn’t start the page to make money for equipment but it’s come down to us having to put fundraisers out there. I was a secretary so I always typed and had to have a printer.
Q: Have you had dogs all your life?
A: A few when I was little, but all my adult life. I have multiple dogs and Diane has dogs and cats.
Q: What does the future hold for the group?
A: We are not a 501(c)(3); we don’t want to be. We don’t want the headache of all that. We are going to remain volunteer and hope that people continue to donate here and there.
Q: Is there anything you would like to share about the project?
A: A big aspect of what we try to do is education as well. Dog safety, dog licensing, that’s the Pennsylvania law. Dog rabies tag, that’s the Pennsylvania law. A simple name tag will get your dog home sooner, because most of the dogs that are missing, they don’t have that.
It’s very important to ID your dog and have a dog license on your dog’s collar. Simple pet ID of ownership, pet ID. It’s also important to know that if you find a dog, you cannot keep that dog. Pennsylvania law regards dogs as property and you can’t keep someone else’s dog.
We have a Paypal account [for donations — BDSSusieOlson7@gmail.com]. We were very hesitant to do that in the beginning but then we found that it was necessary. We’re not very good takers, we’re better givers. We’re not about money but it became necessary because the costs were getting too great. We don’t ask, we don’t expect, we don’t charge, but ,of course, we will take a donation. It’s all about getting the dog back, whether it’s lost or found. There’s a myriad of reasons a dog may get out, some dogs are runners, some dogs are not. We don’t put blame, we go from the point of exit and go.
Rylan Bassett is an intern with The Morning Call Academy summer journalism program.