You’ve stopped your car on the side of the road to help a lost dog or opened your front door to find a four-legged stranger standing on the welcome mat.

The pet doesn’t have ID tags, and you know the pet’s family is most assuredly worried sick and you want to help them be happily reunited as quickly as possible.

For many happy returns, PET LIFE magazine recommends the following:

• Call animal control and the police department to see if anyone has reported a lost pet.
• Call every veterinary hospital in town.
• Inquire among neighbors, doormen, newspaper and mail delivery persons.
• Check the lost-and-found columns of all daily and weekly newspapers.
• Put your own “found” ads in newspapers as well as flyers on street posts, pet stores, grooming shops, boarding facilities and veterinary clinics.