My dog ran off and found his way home

Dopey_Dora_42

Hi,
Need to share this bit of great news - my CKCS Oscar was having his usual playtime in the field whilst son was playing football and was off lead. He was approached by two other dogs that went either side of him and went to attack him. Oscar got scared and pelted out the field (which is a 10 min walk from our house). Hubby phoned me at home in a panic. I opened the front door to go out looking and he was out of breath on the drive and scampered into the house and just collapsed in a heap. He had found his way home across three roads and alongside a major busy road. How he managed not to have an accident or cause an accident I dont know but I was so relieved that he was clever enough to find his way home.
Dora xx

kaya

My German Shepherd did exactly the same thing, i heard her on our gravel driveway and she was sitting on my doorstep whan i opened it, my worried wife was about 10 mins behind her

lab-lover

aww bless - good news, how clever to get back

My elderly neighbour has a dog who now and again will run off then turn up a couple of hours later. She'll find her sitting at the door patiently waiting to be let in.

allIcouldwishfor

Our ESS did this once when he was going through his naughty teenage years! Scared the life out of OH. As a result of this incident we did some extra training so that when he is scared he runs to us for safety instead of running away and putting himself in more potential danger.

Krystaltips

I used to have a little dog who would pelt out the front door given half a chance then return a couple of hours later jumping up the front door to be let in... The only time he didn't come back was when the back fence had broken down and he got into next doors garden and out through their back gate... At the same time as my very elderly rotty cross... I like to think he didn't want to leave the old dog on his own and they were found the next morning about 2 miles from home wandering along a main road together!

claireac

When our cocker was a tiny puppy ex was walking him in the rain at the local park. Dog took off and came home, was scratching at the front door to be let in. Followed 10mins later by a wet and moody ex!!

Jasper never ever liked the rain........:rotfl:

Dopey_Dora_42

AllIcouldwishfor - what sort of training did you do please? I am scared to let him off his lead now in case it happens again.
Thank you for your replies.

baileysbattlebus

Dopey_Dora_42 wrote: »

AllIcouldwishfor - what sort of training did you do please? I am scared to let him off his lead now in case it happens again.
Thank you for your replies.

I would be interested in the training too -

I lost our 5 month old Staffie pup yesterday in the park - she was running with a friends Springer Spaniel - they went off into a woodland area - friends dog came out - ours didn't.

I spent over an hour with my friend walking round the park and couldn't find her.

In the end went home and found that a neighbour had her in her garage - she had gone home!!

I was delighted she was ok and that she able to find her way home - what worries me is if we lose each other again and she heads off home and maybe gets run over or something - any help or advice would be appreciated.

allIcouldwishfor

Dopey_Dora_42 wrote: »

AllIcouldwishfor - what sort of training did you do please? I am scared to let him off his lead now in case it happens again.
Thank you for your replies.

I was really lucky actually, in that Jasper was already going to "follow-on" teenager puppy classes at the time so we had the opportunity to use the other dogs in the training class as stooges. This is what the behaviourist had us do:

You crouch/kneel/sit down (it's important that you are as close to their level as possible) with your puppy/dog on the lead and have the other dogs wander around him/her and you. Whenever one gets near you just gently push them away or put your body between the stooge dog and your puppy, while you keep your puppy close to you so that they know that you are the protector. It doesn't have to be too intimidating or rough, but it's enough for them to get the message, although it can be a bit scarey when you have a 10month old show doberman bounding towards you!

If you are not going to classes you may not find the opportunity to do this very often. We found it worked, but this was under the instruction of a brilliant behaviourist who really knows her stuff.

Dopey_Dora_42

Thank you x