My sister's dog has gone missing on holiday :(

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Well she lives there. He doesn't. He broke out of the caravan when unexpected fireworks went off and took off through the farmers fields.

He is a very desirable breed for that area

Tonight they are just going to wait up and then go and shout for him once all the partying has stopped. According to my mum they are on 'some kind of hippy or gypsy site' and everyone is still up partying.

But for tomorrow I need advise on who to contact (dog warden, one vets, police, microchip company and local pub owner already covered - pub owner has contacted local farmers)

They are in Matlock, Derbyshire Dales. I need contact details for any vets (apart from Peak Vets - we've contacted those), petshops, rescues, kennels etc. in the area and any other ideas that might help.

I am in charge of admin because I am the only person with PC access and I've never even heard of Matlock before today.

Apparently from now, if their dogs cannot come to me when they go away (the missing dog has a penchant for eating houses so DH says no) then I am to move into their house with their dogs, they are never going away with them again.

Oh no . Really sorry, I hope he is found very soon.

Can't help with local places, but you could put his details on the doglost website. They're bloody good and will email out to all local members who can then keep an eye out.

I've had a look at their 'found' section on doglost and he's not on there, but he has only been missing an hour or two. He's going on first thing in the morning.

At the moment my sister and parent's are understandably upset and so getting sense out of them is hard.

I need my sister to forward on a recent/clear photo of him and I need to know what contact details to put down, since they're not at home and not planning to come home until they find him.

Oh dear. I hope they find him. While they are out looking, they could leave something with their scent on (like some clothing) in case the dog finds his way back while they are gone.

There are 79 vets listed in Matlock on Thomson Local here.

Dog warden for Amber Valley Tel: 01773 841335,
for Derbyshire Dales 01629 761 215.
NE Derbyshire is 01246 231111 and they have helpful list of nearby dog wardens here.

Thanks RedWing, that's exactly the sort of thing I need. Derbyshire Dales warden has already been contacted but all the phone lines are switched off. We will ring the rest in the morning.

He has done this before but only ever where he is normally walked. He normally turns up at the local business (where the security guards feed him) or where they park the car. Would he/could he smell his way back to them once the panic has subsided? Or to the pub he went to every night for the last 3 days or has it not been long enough for him to know where to go back to?

Funnily his recall is ace, you can even recall him from a rabbit chase, until he hears a car back fire or a firework or even someone hollering at their dog.

There are a few of them there all known to the dog, so someone is staying at the caravan to wait while they look.

One thing they have on their side is that he crossed with one of those god awful bull breeds and they have a search party consisting mainly of small children lined up for the morning. Of course he adores children but couldn't eat a whole one

I have told them again and again to desensitise the dog to loud noise, but I know myself, with a sighthound breed that is damn near impossible.

There is a lurcher show on tomorrow just near where they are staying they are going to check out if he doesn't turn up.

Lots of dogs would run from fireworks. Sadly it is a common occurrence.

He could well find his way to the pub. They should definitely talk to the landlord and put up posters there, if they don't find him first thing.

I posted this link about lost dog behaviour on another thread recently, just in case it has anything useful.

He's back

He was found by another dog walker in a neighbouring village and reported to the police (who my parents had left contact details with)

He's ran for over 6 miles in panic and has no pads left on his paws and is very sorry for himself. They don't know if they're staying an extra night before travelling home with him so he can see the vet there or if they're bringing him home now to see our vets.

Thank goodness!! So relieved to hear this.

Hope he'll have lots of TLC and his paws heal very very soon.

Now they're having trouble deciding where he goes when they go away again on Tuesday.

Obviously he will still need to rest and they are never leaving him in the caravan again but they have two other high energy dogs who they can't leave either and had planned long walks in the countryside with the dogs and children.

Whippy is getting spayed on Tuesday so will also be on limited exercise, so him coming here to stay with me was talked about.

When I mentioned it to DH he replied "No way." Until I said "That's fine. You'll be okay here on your own for a week if I move into my mum's with the dogs, won't you?" Now he wants to know where the dog will sleep if he can stay

I'm so glad they got him back. Hope his paws heal soon.

Glad to hear you got him back . For the record, (might be useful for others to know), Amber Valley got rid of dedicated dog wardens some time ago.