An increased number of pets get lost each Halloween. Find out how to keep your pet safe here -- read this Halloween reunion story from our partner, HomeAgain.

If your pet's not microchipped, download and print this coupon for 50% off the cost of microchipping your pet at any Banfield Pet Hospital through Nov. 30.

Mia got out while the family was trick-or-treating -- from Julie C. in Hayward, CA

We recently took our daughter out trick-or-treating and then went to a relative's house. We were only gone for a few hours, but when we returned home, Mia was gone. She did not have her collar and ID tags on due to some skin irritation on her neck.

We canvassed the neighborhood that evening and put up posters the next day. We found out from going door to door that a block away from our house someone had seen her out in the middle of a busy intersection, absolutely terrified.

Karen Johnson, DVM, of Banfield Pet Hospital in Portland, OR, offers tips to protect your pet this Halloween:

Don't put your pet in a costume unless you know she loves it. If your pet loves being dressed up, be sure the costume you choose isn't constricting, unsafe or annoying, since this can stress your pet.

Be wary of costumes that use rubber bands to keep them in place, because your pet could chew them off and swallow them, potentially choking or suffering an intestinal injury. Rubber bands can also become tangled around a leg or the tail, cutting off blood supply.

Finally, be careful not to obstruct your pet's vision, as even gentle pets may react in fear when they can't see what's going on.

Teen superstars Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber recently adopted a dog from a Canadian shelter, PEOPLEPets reports.

The shelter, D'Arcy's A.R.C. (Animal Rescue Center) in Winnipeg, still has 43 adoptable pets posted on Petfinder, including Bradley Cooper (pictured).

Gomez and Bieber are both longtime pet-adoption advocates -- she has five rescued dogs and he has filmed several pro-adoption PSAs for PETA.

Their newest family member is a 10-week-old Husky mix they named Baylor. The couple fell in love with him during a visit to the shelter while Gomez was in Winnipeg for a concert.

"They spent a lot of time with the puppies,"
the organization's CEO, D'Arcy Johnston, told PEOPLE. "I was told that [Gomez] was missing the dogs that she has at home."

Still, Johnston was surprised when the singer decided to adopt Baylor on the spot. Gomez was screened like any other adopter and took the puppy with her that day. (Visit PEOPLEPets.com for a photo of her and Baylor taken in London, Ontario.)

Every year, The Orvis Company selects nonprofit organizations to feature in its catalogs, and encourages customers to donate as part of a $30,000 matching gift campaign. Groups selected also receive free ad placement in Orvis catalogs and on Orvis.com.

Until Nov. 10, you can vote to make the Petfinder.com Foundation a 2012 Orvis charity. Not only will this opportunity raise money for homeless pets, it will allow the Petfinder.com Foundation to run adoption-themed ads in Orvis catalogs and include an adoptable-pet search on its website for all of 2012.

All money raised through our proposed Orvis campaign will go directly to programs that vaccinate, transport, spay/neuter, and promote adoption of homeless dogs.
 
How to vote:

1. "Like" the Orvis Dogs Facebook page
   
2. Select the Petfinder.com Foundation
   
3. Fill out the required fields, then click "Submit"
   
4. Invite your friends to vote.

This is a great opportunity to raise awareness for shelter dogs and money for the Petfinder.com Foundation programs that support them. Help us reach the hearts of thousands of people who don't already know what we do. Together we can show them why pet adoption should be the only option -- VOTE TODAY!

After their 11-year-old Golden Retriever developed an auto-immune disease, the Haught family of Loveland, OH, realized their dog would only be with them for a short time longer.

"We knew we wanted another dog to help ease the blow when our beloved Silence would be gone, so we turned to Petfinder, knowing we wanted to rescue," Kristen Haught says.

They weren't in a hurry, so they browsed Petfinder for several months -- but then when they saw Rigsby's photo, they knew their search was over. They called Miami County Animal Shelter in Troy, OH, and made arrangements to meet him.

"When he came out, his tail was wagging a mile a minute and he was so happy to see us," Kristen says. "He was emaciated and had several cuts on his legs. He couldn't stop licking the kids and rubbing up against them like he was a cat." They adopted him and renamed him Sawyer.

National news outlets are heralding Wausau, WI, firefighters for saving a yellow Lab from a burning house -- and reviving him using mouth-to-snout CPR.

On Tuesday, Kim Carlson arrived home to find her house in flames. Her fiance's 17-year-old son, Dwight Borchardt, had already gotten the family's Border Collie and two cats out, but 7-year-old Koda was still inside.

"I was prepared to douse myself with water to get him," Carlson told local news station WSAW. "[My fiance] said, 'You can't, Kim, you cannot go,' and I said, 'I have to get that dog, I love him.' "

She ran into the house anyway, but the smoke was so thick she had to turn back. After firefighters put out the blaze, they found Koda in a bedroom, unconscious.

"When they laid him down on the ground, we could see that he was struggling quite a bit to breathe," firefighter Jared Thompson told WSAW. He and fellow firefighter Jamie Giese began administering CPR and giving Koda oxygen.

When the two appeared on the TODAY show on Friday, Giese told Matt Lauer, "I have never been trained in [CPR for pets]. ... We could tell he was trying to breathe, and our training for humans is airway, breathing, circulation. We had no tools handy, so it was mouth-to-snout.'' They were able to revive Koda, who was rushed to an animal hospital.

Q: How do I keep my 7-month-old puppy from eating cat poop out of the litter box? -- Jenny K.

Andrea Arden, CPDT at Andrea Arden Dog Training in New York City, writes: People may find this habit hard to understand, but many dogs tend to indulge in eating feces -- their own or those of other animals.

Here are a few reasons why your dog might eat poop:

• Mother dogs eat their pups' stool to keep the whelping area clean, and pups may mimic this behavior. This behavior tends to fade during adulthood, but some dogs continue throughout life.


• Some dogs indulge due to boredom, stress or because they consider it a sort of delicacy.


• Dogs have fewer taste buds than humans and that may be part of why they seem to be less selective than we are in regards to what they will put into their mouths.


• In some cases there may be an underlying medical cause, such as lack of sufficient nutrients in the diet. Be sure to check with your vet to rule this out as a possible cause.

Find out how to stop the behavior after the jump.

Tomorrow is National Pit Bull Awareness Day, a day created by Bless the Bullies and dedicated to bringing positive attention to these wonderful, misunderstood dogs. (See some easy ways you can help Pit Bulls here.)

If you're a Pit parent or interested in adopting a Pit, you may know that some rental apartments don't allow them or other large breeds.

So I've compiled some tips for finding Pit-friendly rentals based on my own experience as a Pit Bull foster parent and renter, with help from For Rent: No Pit Bulls Allowed at StubbyDog.org and Renting with Your Pit Bull at BadRap.org.

1. Give yourself lots of time. Micaela Myers, author of the StubbyDog article, recommends starting your search two to three months before you have to move.

A West Fargo, ND, man and his assistant recently proved themselves strong-armed and soft-hearted by pulling three kittens to safety out of a wasps' nest. Jim Johnson, who is being hailed as a hero by cat bloggers, talked to Petfinder about his adventure.

On Oct. 7, Johnson, owner of Jim Johnson Construction, had stopped by a property to do some work when his assistant Eric heard a mewling sound. They discovered the source in a nearby basement window well, where three 3-week-old kittens were trapped inches from a nest of wasps.

The situation was bad -- two of the kittens were unconscious and covered in wasps; the third was trying to fight off the stinging insects.

Jim didn't think twice about helping them, despite the fact that wasp stings are painful -- and potentially deadly to those who are allergic. "When you see something
in dire straits, you just have to act," he tells us. 

Jim told Eric to cut the plastic cover off the window well with his utility knife while Jim retrieved a large pine board he planned to use to kill the wasps. But as soon as Jim swatted a few wasps, more started to swarm.

Jim switched tactics. He put on Eric's sweater -- it was big enough to come down over his hands -- and reached into the window well to pull the kittens out.

Q: My dog is a thief! LOL. Every opportunity he gets, he takes things -- the TV remote, a shoe, a sock, whatever! I think he thinks it is a game of chase -- though we have worked hard to stop chasing him. He knows "stay," "drop it" and "leave it" and will obey those commands when we're retrieving his plunder, but how do we get him to stop stealing in the first place? -- Tanya T.

Andrea Arden, CPDT at Andrea Arden Dog Training in New York City, writes: Dogs are opportunistic in that they will take every opportunity they can to investigate things, eat things, etc. It can be frustrating when this is directed at our valuables -- and it can be dangerous for our dog. So we need to redirect this normal energy and inclination to a positive and safe outlet.

Here's what you can do:

• Start with him on leash at all times when you are there to supervise. That way, if he takes something, you can calmly step on the end of the leash to get a hold of him rather chasing him, which might inadvertently reward him (for some dogs, "catch me if you can" is better than a treat!).