Lost (and found) ddog today

[WeAllHaveWings]

The dog walker we have been using for the last 7 years, lost 3 dogs today. Don't blame the walkers, dogs can be unpredictable and it hasn't happened before..

They found the first one within the hour, the other two including ddog took 4 hours to find in a huge remote windfarm woodland/moors area, thought at one point as it was getting darker we would never find them and they would be outdoors overnight. Then Ds(17) found them first and they ran away again!!!!

Eventually managed to get a hold of them both (only because ds is fast), never realised it is so hard to get your dog to come back to you when they've been lost for a few hours!!!!

So glad for you that you got Ddog back - one of my worst fears

Same here, I just dropped work (WFH) and took ds (had a live school lesson) and went to the windfarm hoping he wouldn't have got far.

We walked for miles, then found them 500'yds from the dog walkers van 🤦🏻‍♀️ but really strange when they wouldn't come anywhere near us, kept backing off.

but really strange when they wouldn't come anywhere near us, kept backing off.

If your dog had been by itself it probably would have come straight back as playing with your human is more fun than playing alone. As there were two of them they probably thought having an adventure together was more fun than going home with their humans.

Just reading about it now and it says they go into survival mode when lost and we shpuldnt have been shouting their name or trying to catch them. Quiet, stealth mode and encourage them to come to you.

Hopefully won't need to do that did another 7 years!!!!

but really strange when they wouldn't come anywhere near us, kept backing off.
I wouldn’t expect that at all! You’d think they’d run right up to you!

A friend's dog was missing for a week in the snow. She went into survival mode and even though it turns out the owners were sat with smelly mackerel very close to where she was every night, she didn't come out to them. They had lots of professional help and they were telling them to not call her, just sit quietly, etc. It was more about catching her in pen using food. They had video footage of her so close to them. Luckily they got her back eventually.

I never would have thought it either. I always thought ddog would come racing over if he was lost and heard us. I'm almost certain his squeaky ball would do it even if our voices didn't but who knows.

As soon as ds caught one of them (not our ddog) and put him on a lead they both reverted straight back to normal, like a switch had been flicked.

If you have a dog you or walkers walk off lead it is worth Googling and reading a few bits so you have an idea if it ever happens to you.

Really pleased you found your ddog. And thanks for the tips. I will have a read so I feel prepared if it ever happens to us.

Oh my goodness I wouldn’t expect that at all. Thank you for sharing this & im pleased you got your ddog back.