AIBU to think escaped dogs are becoming far too common?

Lost/ found dogs are a well known bait and switch post for local groups. Are you sure you are seeing genuine posts? You can usually tell the AI ones because they have a sob story worthy of X factor.

My dog is lovely and chilled and will often sniff around the front of the house/driveway if Im pottering about sorting the recycling down the side of the house, watering plants. People walking past often call me and declare 'your dog has escaped!!!!' A couple has given me a "tutt" as if Im the worst dog owner ever.

There's not more, you just see more about it because of social media. Like so many other things!

Mines escaped twice, once when a delivery driver left the gate open and once when it blew open during high winds. I always always check now. We're right by the sea and he's absolutely stupid enough to chase a rabbit off a cliff!

All I seem to see recently on Facebook is lost dogs or cats, maybe with more people owning them are more careless now I'm not sure but definitely see posters up for missing pets and see posts on Facebook more now.

Quite possibly, they can be very devious. They're clearly planning to take over the world! And to be honest, I think they'd do a fabulous job! Naps and treats? I'm in! 🤣

Mine too! I always think how come all these crazy dog lovers keep loosing their dogs!

Haven't experienced it with big dogs. We do however have 3 terrier breeds in our town that constantly seem to be escaping. All 3 have the same thing in common if commenters on the local FB area page are to be believed - dog incompatible with owner lifestyle and escaping is their enrichment and exercise. Two are left outside in their gardens all day whilst their owner works and their enrichment is escaping. One seems to mooch down the road and take itself to the local park before someone picks it up and posts it on the local FB page. The other seems to always end up in the supermarket car park where lots of people fuss it and someone always takes it home and puts it on the local FB page. The other belongs to an elderly lady who has very limited mobility and it escapes when she opens to door, it seems her housing does not come with a secure garden and she cannot chase it - her adult dc are always retrieving it from various roads/ gardens.

Loads of lost dogs where I live but it's more getting lost on walks than from houses although there is some of that too.

They're googling "how to operate door locks" in their down time?

I’ve never seen this and we have loads of dog owners on our road

I haven’t seen one in over 40 years.

I’m not sure if there is an actual increase in lost dogs or if it’s just the fact that Facebook makes it much easier to hear about it.

We live very near a large area of open land popular with dog walkers, unattended dogs turn up in our street about 3 or 4 times a year.

I think that if your dog doesn’t have excellent recall then it should be walked on a lead.

We have a few usual suspects, my neighbours dog misses no opportunity to get out for a walk, including digging under the fence, which had just been strengthened after a previous attempt.

My dog managed to squeeze himself under the fence too as a puppy. I’d been telling my neighbour that we were lucky that he didn’t seem interested in wandering, 2 hours later off he went.

I feel like there were a lot more actual stray, not just escaped, dogs around when I was a little kid in the 1980s. There is more dog theft now though.

When we have the Tesco delivery (and the dog comes for a nosey to check on her chewy chicken stick delivery) the driver sometimes asks if the dog will run off if you open the door. Ours doesn't (though she had wandering moments when we first got her and weren't used to having a dog) but I concluded from the question, that many do bolt out the door at the first opportunity.

I’ve come across more riderless horses than dogs roaming free on my walks.

We have a missing dogs Facebook group in our area and it is constantly on the go. I don’t understand how so many people lose their dogs tbh

Happy days! no angst about anything just get on the bus to the pub 😀

My Aunts dog used to make his way to my Grans house daily, tbf she didn't live far but that is where my Aunt would find her dog.

It's funny you should say this. I've just been on Facebook and there was yet another post asking if anyone had lost this dog, found roaming. That must be the 10th this weekend. That and the 100s of missing cats. Wtf is going on lately?!

We had a self walking dog in the 80s too. A Labrador he’d just vanish off and reappear for dinner. Nobody the least bit concerned. There was a rather famous dog who had gotten the bus to town (by himself) to join his owner in the pub.

Which city? This is so vanishingly rare in England that I’ve only ever seen it twice in my whole life. Both dogs happily reunited with their owners.

Another vote of not an issue where I live. Aside from one woman whos fluffy little dog "escapes" all the time, so much so, everyone knows the dog and the house and just takes it back. Never seen any others.