Who are all these people who keep losing their dogs?

[BananaCaramel]

Seems like every other day there is a post on my local town Facebook group about someone spotting a dog on the loose (“sorry I had my buggy so I couldn’t stop”), collecting a roaming dog and bringing it back to their house (“they’re safe at mine and I’ve set up the paddling pool, PM me”), or people who have lost their dog asking if anyone has seen it?

Surely it can’t be this common for people to be losing their dogs out on walks all the time?

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

There's been quite a few on my local FB page in the last few days too. Dogs seem to have escaped from gardens/farms though. And one went AWOL and was missing for a few hours before being found.

I can only assume that people's gardens aren't as secure as they should be and that the owners aren't keeping an eye on them. It's only a matter of time before one of these loose dogs causes an RTA though.

I suspect it's to do with the number of new owners who have failed to train their dogs properly. There are far more dogs around now (or that's how it feels) and far more of them seems to have had little or no training.

Yep this. ^ Too many people getting dogs that they have no clue how to deal with and discipline and train. I know several people in my village who have their dogs running about in the garden, gate open, and the dogs running off around the village. Then you see 'has anybody seen my dog' posted on the village facebook page. At least 2 of these types of posts a week pop up.

We had 9 different dogs over 20 years when I lived with my parents/when I was growing up. (Sometimes had 2, sometimes 1,) and we never ever lost one. Never had one go missing. Ever. Indeed, most people in our street of 20 houses - back then - had a dog or two. Don't remember one going missing. Ever.

I think the problem is probably the same as ever - people can just communicate far and wide now with the internet!

My neighbour lost their dog the other day. They have a toddler and a small baby, and think it must have slipped out while answering the door, albeit no one noticed.

I found another neighbours dog in the street a few not us ago, and they thought it had come in with them but it hadn’t. Thankfully it was docile enough to just hang around waiting to be discovered!

There was a spate around here when the postie would open the door to put the parcel inside and the dogs escaped (not mine, that would involve getting up and being energetic). Also lots blamed on delivery drivers leaving gates open.

There was a couple when a fox was roaming around our local woodland during the day and spooked the dogs.

There is one woman who got her dog the same time as I got mine, made me feel like shit about my training and my 'common' dog and how much better she was at everything, her dog escapes all the time, at least weekly. She said it's a husky thing that they all do.

The odd escape is inevitable but mainly they’re just very stupid, careless terrible people.

Agree @birdling, plus a massive rise in people becoming aware of all sorts of new “status breeds”, which pre social media few would ever have heard of in the UK, with even fewer having the experience or set ups to adequately house such breeds. Caucasian Shepherds, Cane Corsos, Malinois and Boerboels all spring to mind. Fantastic breeds, all occupation breeds, none suited to the house pet city living they are being subjected to.

I knew someone who had two huskies, she lived in a semi rural area, had a fairly chaotic lifestyle. Certainly not one which suggested she could look after any dog, let alone a high needs breed, let alone two of said breed. They got out repeatedly, killed sheep multiple times. One went missing, there was much drama on social media, the remaining dog still kept getting out, then went missing too. Both dogs gone within 6 months of each other. I personally think they were shot by a farmer/s for lifestock worrying and she was never informed.

It happens a fair bit by me, lots of woods and dogs run off leash. Chase after a rabbit and get a bit confused. I grabbed a runaway dog myself, I’d spoken to the owner at start of my walk whilst dogs were saying hello, our dogs look v similar (both red labs from working stock) and he mentioned she was a bit flighty and belonged to his partner. Appeared out the woods a mile down the path looking a bit confused but delighted to see my dog again. No sign of owner so after a bit I thought I’d best pop my leash on her and walk her back to car park in hopes of finding owner. Got there and no sign but a couple of other dog walkers mentioned they’d seen him looking/ calling and I contemplated sticking dog on Facebook and if I should ask if someone in village could hold onto her as I live 10 miles away.

Luckily he reappeared before I could make a dognapper of myself and tried to grab my dog.

I also found a dog on the very busy rural road I live on. I was really worried it’d get hit so I popped it in the car and drove home with it just a few hundred metres. It belonged to the guests who were visiting my neighbour at the foot of the drive so that was lucky. They did save my dog once too as she chased a rabbit into their garden and out the other side and up on to road.

There seems to be a new thing of not making your dog wear a collar. I'm sure someone will be along to tell me they are not safe. Back in the olden days when dogs wore collars you just rang the number and the owner came to get them job done. No need for everyone (and his dog) on Facebook getting involved.

...and a lot of posts on FB from people who've 'Found a stray cat who was in my garden for 12mins so I fed him expensive catty treats and I know he's lost/abandoned/starving cos he's still here'......'Put a paper collar on him!'.....'Take him to vet to be scanned!'.....
No, he's just a Six-Dinner-Sid who's having a wander and you've fallen for it, leave him be!
(Apologies for derail)

My local fb page doesn't go a day without a lost/found/running down the road dog Often repeat offenders. Also escaped indoor cats.
For variety we recently had cows and sheep. Not a rural area but in town .
Also ferrets. The one where someone found a ferret and it was claimed by someone who wasn't actually the owner turned into one hell of a row online.

A lot of dogs present as having ADHD. All keen to be a good boy, until they see a squirrel and forget everything. (I’m aware ADHD is far more complicated than this, before anyone gets offended, my DD appears to have it). My dog is small and black and can sneak past your ankles in the dark if you open the door for any reason. I don’t know if she’s got better at not doing it or we’ve got better at preventing it. Thankfully we always got her back because she’d just run up to the first person she saw excitedly wagging her tail and begging for cuddles. She’s never made it more than a few doors down. Elderly dogs can also get confused and wander off, that seems to be a common cause of escapee dogs where I live. Also the one whose owner recently died and seems to have gone a bit unsettled, which is sad.

I had this conversation the other day as it would appear there are quite a few shit dog owners in my area.

Ha! We've also got a couple of ferrets near us who apparently love a little run around the estate on a regular basis.

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.

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

Ham 🤣

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.

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 😬

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 ☺️

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.