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?

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.

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 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!

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

(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

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.

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.

I love these Facebook posts!

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

Oh right...😂

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.

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.

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

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 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…

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?

I very rarely see a trained dog these days.

Poor recall. So when an off lead dog gets distracted, the owner has no chance of getting it back.

My dad’s dog is a nightmare. She is a proper escape artist. She will work on any tiny gap to get out and wander. She’s a German shepherd so not a small dog. My dogs garden is like a prison camp now. The wooden fences are all reinforced by wire fences! If she visits us she has to stay on a long line lead to stop her finding a gap and vanishing.

She is friendly, just loves to explore.

I think this must be true. My dog is very well trained and every single walk other people comment on it so I think she must stand out. I think I have an old fashioned view of how I expect a dog to behave 😆

This is where having a limpet dog is a good thing, yesterday I realised the back gate had been left open but my dog was (as always) sat by my feet.

I can’t imagine he’d ever willingly wander off as he would be too worried about losing us!

There was a local dog who used to get the bus and check out pubs for his errant owner who regularly stopped for a quick one and failed to make it home for tea.

There were dogs roaming around (80s) when I was a child. We lived in flats so folk would put them out the stair door and they’d come back in a few hours and bark to be let in. Not everyone but a few, there was a big white one who was really intimidating so you’d have to walk the long way round.

I don’t think anyone was ever bitten though. I think there’s lots more cars, Also dogs are less likely to be walked from home. Lots of folk put them in garden and drive somewhere nice for a proper walk.

Need the laughing emoji again!

My neighbour kept losing her dog, or having it returned to her. She couldn't work out how it was escaping.

Turned out the dog had worked out how to open the front door and leap over the garden gate.

I had one of those. Absolutely fine 95% of the time but deer/rabbit/squirrel and he was gone. Lots and lots and lots of training, just couldn't contain himself.

Useless lazy owners who aren’t training or looking after their dogs properly

There is a beautiful Old English Sheepdog near us that is always wandering about our area. I had to slam on my brakes yesterday when he decided to amble across the road right in front of me. No point in mentioning it on Facebook as all you get is ‘Oh that’s Fido. He lives on Doggone Road. He’s always escaping. Don’t worry, he’ll find his way home lol’.

LOL? Not too much of that when he finds his way home on the bonnet of someone’s Vauxhall Corsa. I drive slowly in residential areas, but there are plenty who absolutely bomb it down the steep hill. It’s only a matter of time for that poor dog. Surely it’s not beyond the wit of man to make the garden more secure.