Who are all these people who keep losing their dogs?

People are idiots.
There’s a few households around here where the dogs escape semi regularly- you’d think if it happened once they’d learn from that and have a rethink of their door/garden security wouldn’t you?

My mum says that when she was a child dogs just roamed around. And presumably took themselves back home for dinner. So why can’t this generation of dogs find their was back home when they get out the front door?

Edit: not and never have been a dog owner…

You'd be surprised. Where I live we have dogs going missing all the time. Recently the same person lost the same dog just 24 hours after getting it back after it spent a week roaming the streets lost. Some people just don't seem to learn and aren't cut out to be dog owners. If you only just got your dog back after being lost then why are you not making double sure the back gate is locked and not leaving the front door wide open while you go to the car for something? I don't think I'm anything special and I don't think I go above and beyond any further than basic common sense but in 40 years not once have I ever lost a dog or had one escape or run off. My dog is my most valued possession and I just don't take unnecessary risks.

My local Facebook is flooded by the police looking for missing people not dogs .

Many seem to be escapees from gardens or unfamiliar dog walkers; we had one locally that ran out of the dog grooming shop when the door opened! Walking a dog by flooded water and nearby traffic without a lead has led to loss too.
If I had a dog I’d train for recall, also keep on a long lead in busy parks near families or in unfamiliar territory.
Using a tracking device seems worthwhile because once a dog is spooked they can travel many miles in a few hours. Dog wardens certainly earn their pay.

Well just yesterday i picked up a gorgeous lab that was roaming on his own around our street. I popped him into our courtyard, gave him water and rang the number on the tag which only went to voicemail for half an hour. So yes, I put him on our local page. (His name was Bruno). They were holiday-makers who had gone out for an extended lunch and thought their teenager was keeping an eye on him.

But alot of the ones in our area are rescue dogs that people take off the lead before they are sure the dog is comfortable OR has good recall and the dog scarpers, OR again holiday makers and the dog is spooked when off the lead. Now that seems like a generalisation, but my best friend is part of a volunteer group that goes out and searches for lost dogs with drones etc so she has a very good idea of the most common scenario.

I love these Facebook posts!

"He's definitely hungry because he gulped down a tin of tuna."

Oh right...😂

I don't think more dogs are lost. It is more that the internet means they are reported more, and we see those posts more. Before the web, it was posters on lampposts and flyers in doors. Now it is whole social media campaigns.

My parents had a dog who was an escape artist. He would disappear at night, and come back in the morning like nothing had happened. Got caught by the dog warden a few times. No internet then and no one had a clue he was gone except us.

I also don't think it is poor training that the issue. Some dogs are opportunists and will just walk out when they see the door/gate open. A lot of dogs do escape because a tradesperson working on someone's house accidently let them out. Or a dog on a walk had bolted because it was spooked by something. I had to let my own dog just run once as she was getting attacked by two other dogs. I dropped her lead and let her go (I did get her back).

I know someone who sadly lost her dog when she had a house fire. Was missing for days, and sadly found deceased next to a motorway. Poor thing must have been petrified.

There’s a family near me who lost their black lab last year. The thing is, the dog was always getting out and they were always posting on facebook to find him. So the last time the poor dog escaped, they still haven’t found him. Insane the number of times this dog was lost, and now they have the heartbreak of probably never getting him back. No idea why they didn’t take more care. Put a lock on their gate or something. He’s an old dog. Poor old thing.

(Puts hand up embarrassed)- me op, I once took a dog Into the car because he was a tiny little thing that looked like he needed help. Found out later I’d kidnapped the dog of a farmer two fields over!

Our dog went missing in the 00s when the electric meter reader left three gates open and the dog snuck out the back door without my mum noticing (he had been asleep under the table). He was found in the pound four days later having gone wandering with three other dogs

My dog wears a collar on walks but not in the house or garden as they can easily get caught on things.

😂 this was my cat! A local character, fed by all and sundry. Those new to the area would often post on the local Facebook group, with photos, about “this lovely boy who keeps appearing at the window, seems hungry so we’ve fed him”. He came home every evening for his last meal and to sleep before venturing out for a successful day of scamming people for food.

Barely knew a moments hunger!

Oh, and our Ring doorbell once caught a neighbour’s two Labradors walk past at 3am one morning and back again a few minutes later. They must’ve gone to the end of the cul de sac before deciding to return home. They have a habit of escaping as the family seem quite forgetful about closing the front door.

This! Almost daily posts how someone has seen a cat that ‘looks lost’ in their garden/sitting on a fence etc.

As well as dogs getting out and wandering off - very common on facebook pages here too.

We were out walking our puppy a couple of weeks ago when a Yorkie type dog was running around, my husband knelt down and it ran to him and allowed him to pick it up. We found the owner a couple of streets away, it’d run out of the house and straight across a busy A road.

There was another on Facebook last week and it was spotted and photographed running all around the area. Quite a few people, armed with treats and leads, were trying to capture it and someone eventually caught it.

Our last dog wouldn’t run away, home is where the food is was his motto. We could leave the gate open while gardening out the front, if anyone came to the door he’d trot along to say hello but made no attempt to go outside. We’ve now got a six month old puppy so I’m very conscious that he could get out each time a door opens.

In our local Facebook group it seems to be the same dogs escaping time and again, a pair of huskies! Apparently the breed is well known for being escape artists? They're very beautiful and intelligent dogs ☺️

Our window cleaners left our back gate wide open once - greyhounds turned into the littlest hobos and fucked off up the street 😩

The phone rang and a friendly neighbour had them ( getting loads of fuss and looking smug ) so no harm done, apart from the heart palpitations, feeling faint and general panic 😧

Took years off my life. I'm paranoid about them now, ninjas couldn't get those hounds out of the garden without me knowing about it 😬

My chihuahua escapes at every given opportunity and legs it along to the local shops. He has been on local FB page several times from a kind stranger finding him. It's embarrassing, he's become a bit of a local celebrity and sometimes he is returned straight back home. He's a little sod.

Ham 🤣

And who are all these people picking up random dogs and bringing them into their house?

Us, for a bizarre spell a couple of years ago. Lurchers, a schnauzer, a giant hairy thing like a mobile sofa, a black lab that wombled amiably into our kitchen and scoffed the cat food...

I can only assumed we smell of ham.

i came downstairs to find my front door open and my two greyhounds sprinting up and down my (busy enough) street out front. I nearly had a heart attack!

I must not have slammed it shut properly when I got home.

I found one, and luckily found the owners before I had to take it home or somewhere else. The owners were really blasé and just said he wanders off!! I was so angry.

A lot of people round my way seem to think not having a collar on their lab or spaniel is a status symbol because they are a “working” dog, so they just walk them on a slip lead. Then when the dog inevitably fucks off you have to put it on the community page because there is no tag with contact details.

But even a dog that works has to wear a collar when out and about if it isn’t working at the time. But they don’t seem to read that part of the legislation

I've got 3 dogs and had several dogs over about 13 years now.

I've never lost one but the other day my chihuahua somehow slipped passed DH bringing shopping in. We have a living room door, a stair gate just for the dogs and the front door and for the first time ever all doors aligned open for a split second and she got out. Luckily she only ran to next doors front door and sat down but she could have ran away.

I'd aleays felt quite smug that we never had an incident with our dogs but it was literally 2 seconds of DS opening the living room whilst DS 2 was opening the stairgate to help DH who had just come in the front door!

There's a woman that has posted on our community facebook page 8 times in 1 year to ask if anyone's seen her dog as it got out again.

They are always like "hahaha.. what's he like! Silly us!" Ditsy comments. I'm tempted to call the fucking dog warden, but I will mind my business and judge her shit dog keeping abilities in silence.