Never look a gift horse in the mouth!

Sometimes you have to know when an opportunity has dropped in your lap and make the most of it. It doesn’t happen very often (I think it’s happened to me two or three times in a large number of years) but when it does, spot the opportunity, and, if it’s a news opportunity, turn it around straight away before it loses its news value. You know what they say, today's news is tomorrow's chip paper.

Sheridan & Enid

In this morning’s Independent Diary was this story. Radio1 listeners, facebook fans (there was a find Enid page) and those in the twittersphere were already aware that Enid, the dog of Legally Blonde star, Sheridan Smith, had gone missing. As a pet owner myself I know just how traumatic this can be.

Yesterday the missing Enid was found and reunited with Sheridan at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. What’s more the home has now micro chipped Enid. Sheridan has tweeted her thanks to the home and recommended that all dogs should be chipped – something which the charity advocates.

Sheridan's Tweet

What’s disappointing is that there’s no mention on the charity’s website, no press release, no photo of the happily reunited Sheridan and Enid and, as the charity has no twitter feed, no opportunity to re-tweet. They do have two daily tweets but these are specifically about a cat and a dog available for re-homing.  Neither re-tweeted Sheridan’s story.

I am aware there are issues of confidentiality with those that use a charity’s services but this was in the public domain, so that wasn’t an issue. It would have been a great opportunity for a good news story.

I’m sure they will be thinking about approaching Sheridan in the future but this would have been a quick easy win. It’s the sort of story (celebrity, good news & cute dog – see the pic above) I can imagine the tabloids picking up on and would have given a chance to add in the microchipping message – especially as the Daily Mail had already mentioned that the dog was missing.