ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606190013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER Note: below
JEFF MITCHELL started Lost Paws just weeks ago and calls his service "the 911 of lost and found pets.''
Let's get one thing straight: Jeff Mitchell is NOT Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.
He's not Jim Carrey, the helter-skelter, rubbery-faced comedian who starred in the blockbuster Ace Ventura movies. For one, Mitchell's the first to admit he's a much bigger guy, size-wise, than the bag-of-bones comic.
But he does have a great sense of humor. "I'm a big guy," he said jokingly during a get-acquainted phone conversation. "I couldn't imagine getting me all in one story."
He also has a jumbo-size love for animals - and a big desire to start a business from scratch, make it grow and be his own boss.
That's what led him to become the Roanoke Valley's first pet detective.
Mitchell hastens to add that most of what he does isn't as exciting or wacky as what Ace Ventura does. The main service Mitchell offers is a long-term, detailed computer listing of pets that have been lost or found. He's filling his database with information from localities in and around the Roanoke Valley.
But he is willing to do an occasional investigation of a stolen pet. And he knows the value of catching people's attention long enough so you can tell them what you're all about.
"Put a little Ace twist in there," he suggested with a smile during an interview in his home. "Make me look good."
He's already made himself look good by picking a catchy name for his new business: Lost Paws.
His business cards and handbills describe it as "A Domestic Pet Lost & Found Service." But he hopes people will start thinking of his one-man business, which he runs out of his home in Northeast Roanoke, as "the 911 of lost and found pets."
His idea is loosely based on a service in Chicago he read about in Dog Fancy magazine.
The concept is simple: His database has slots for a pet's name, breed, age, weight, markings and several other descriptive categories. "They're just like people," he said. "They have their own habits, their own moles, their own scars."
Anyone who has a missing dog, cat or other animal can register his pet with the service. Mitchell charges a $5 registration fee.
Anyone who finds a stray pet can register it for free. He also checks animal shelters for newly found pets.
If he makes a match and arranges the return of a pet to its owner, he asks for a $35 finder's fee.
He doesn't expect to make big wads of cash, just enough to supplement what his wife earns working the night shift at the Post Office.
So far he has just one pending stolen-pet investigation and two dozen or so pets registered in his database. He has yet to collect his first finder's fee.
But his venture is brand new - his business license took effect June 1 - and he believes it's simply a matter of time and spreading the word about what he's doing.
Mitchell, 33, is a burly, thick-bearded man who manages to be both easy-going and persistent at the same time.
He has done all kinds of things over the years: dug graves, worked in a steel mill, driven a forklift and helped run a computer-salvage warehouse. He cared for mules and lived off the land in Monroe County, W.Va., making his home in a cabin with no running water and no electricity.
Mitchell knows making a new business go is a tough roll of the dice. But he doesn't mind the challenge.
Things have never been easy for him. When he was a boy, he said, there were times he practically raised himself. His dad wasn't around much and died when Mitchell was 13. There was a succession of stepfathers, a two-year stint in military school and frequent moves ("I said once that everything in my life has a handle because I'm so mobile"). Mitchell rebelled. He never made it past seventh grade.
He got married when he was 21. Four months later, he said, his wife died in a car accident.
"Life is a struggle sometimes," Mitchell said. "I try to always wake up smiling."
One thing that makes him smile is his pets.
His three Rottweilers - Diana, Kane and Bethany - have the run of his house and fenced-in yard. They respond with perfect obedience to his gentle commands and live amicably with the family cat, Beavis.
Mitchell hopes his love for animals will give him credibility with people who are trying to reclaim their pets. "It's devastating when you lose a pet," he said. He knows. He's had a few dogs die; another disappeared and never resurfaced. "It's just like losing someone in your family. It's an empty feeling."
Mitchell, who got his high-school equivalency diploma in 1982, hasn't let his modest formal education stop him from doing all the rights things to maximize his business's chances of succeeding.
He's done his homework: He talked long-distance with his pet detective inspiration in Chicago. He took two computer courses last winter and this spring. He has listened to much-appreciated advice from three retired professionals who have mentored him through a program sponsored by the Small Business Administration (one of them suggested the ``911 of lost and found pets" line).
Sherri, his wife of eight months, has helped him set up his database. He's up some nights until 1 a.m. shuffling paperwork and planning his next step.
His eyes light up when he looks ahead to the day he makes "my first real find." He has made a couple of matches so far - but they came just after the pets already had been returned to their owners.
Early one morning a couple of weeks ago, he was driving through Craig County and spotted a stray beagle-hound mix and recognized it as one that he'd seen in the newspaper Lost-and-Found. He tried unsuccessfully to get it into his vehicle, then called the owners. They came out and looked, but the dog had disappeared again.
The next day it showed up, on its own, at home.
The near-misses haven't discouraged him. Ace Ventura or no, he's enjoying taking an idea, making it his own and working hard to make it a reality.
"I've already realized my dream just doing it - the feeling you get just knowing it's your own enterprise," he said. "It's not about the money. It's about helping people."
TIPS FOR PET OWNERS
* ``First of all, be good to all your dogs and cats''
* Buy dog and cat tags
* Use a microchip or tattooing to further identify your pet
* Keep an accurate, up-to-date photo of your pet - "in case your buddy gets lost"
The phone number for Lost Paws: A Domestic Pet Lost & Found Service is 362-5278.
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staffby CNBDiana, one of his three Rottweilers, helps Jeff Mitchell look at
the Lost Paws computer database, which stores information on lost or
stolen pets. Mitchell's idea of a way to return pets to their owners
is loosely based on a service in Chicago he read about in Dog Fancy
magazine. Color.