On Monday morning a dear friend’s dog managed to get out and ran away from home. They’ve been frantically searching for her since, but to no avail. Like most dog owners, I know how bad it feels to have lost you dog for just a minute. An hour, of course, is far worse, and I hate to think how it feels when multiplied by 48 or more.
If you live locally, I’ve added details of the dog below, so please keep an eye out for her.
If you don’t live locally, even if you DON’T own a dog, there’s still something I wanted to highlight.
Through this ongoing experience, I’ve discovered doglost.co.uk. You may already know about it, and I’m sure somewhere in my head I knew that it would exist. And it does! Dog Lost Dog is a volunteer organisation that publicises lost dogs throughout the UK. It offers useful tools to owners if they lose their dog and provides publicity and advice – all for FREE. You can even preregister your dog in case you lose it. Click here to find out more.
Dog Lost also allows people to sign up to receive alerts of lost and found dogs in their area. I’m sure if you own a dog, you’ve had the same experience I’ve had many times, of finding an ownerless dog while out walking yours. Sometimes the dog won’t even come near you. However, even if it won’t, you can still report your sighting.
Of course you don’t have to be a dog owner to find a lost dog. So even if you don’t have a dog, you might want to sign up.
Anyway, here’s the details of my friend’s dog, who is still missing as I post this..
POPPY
Female Border Collie Tri-Colour (Black, Brown And A Little White) (Age: Older Adult)
Missing from Hatherleigh, EX20 area, South West on Monday, 19th March 2018
She escaped out a house door on Moorview (housing Estate) in Hatherleigh and ran down the road past RGB building supplies towards the roundabout. She used to leave near Exbourne, so may be trying to make her way back there.
CONTACT: 07812987790 or 07969129116
Thanks even more than usual for reading.
Bekki
I’m guessing they’ve checked vets, council, rehoming centres… ? Has it been put up on Facebook?
I’m so sorry this has happened. I hope she is found very soon.
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Thank you. Yes, to all of those – but thanks for checking. She is micro-chipped and has a collar and tag on too, so if someone finds her, there really shouldn’t be a problem reuniting her with her owners.
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Just a small point…
My sister lost a dog a few years ago. She phoned the local dog centres and they all said he wasn’t there. She decided to go and look anyway just to satisfy herself that she’d done everything she could. She found him at a council pound! I do hope Poppy is found safe and well very soon.
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Thank you for that. Not exactly heartening, but useful to know. Although there is a lot of farmland here and she is an ex-farm dog, so more than likely that isn’t the case, but we’ll bear it in mind. Thank you.
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Nightmare!! There are dogs wandering about all over the place in this bit of France but, over the years, I’ve learnt to differentiate between those let out in the mornings to wander and those actually in a panic because they are lost. I’m glad she has a collar and tag on because, if somebody finds her it will be easy to contact the owners – lots of people won’t bother if they have to go a vets and have her scanned for a microchip. We have similar organisations in France to ‘Dog Lost’ (one for cats too) – they do a grand job. I have my fingers crossed for the very best outcome for Poppy and her owners.
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Thank you. As you know, we don’t tend to have dogs wandering on their own in the UK any more – but Devon is a bit of an exception to that and unfortunately it tends to be farm dogs that wander, which are almost all collies. So although we’ve had reports of possible sightings they may well not be her and it also means people are more likely to ignore a collie on its own 😦
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It is a nightmare and I do hope Poppy is found safe and well and reunited with her owners. Self checking the pounds is a good idea, though that micro-chip should come in handy for immediate identification.
Siddy got out once and ran around the block and came home very pleased, proud and happy with himself! In that short amount of time I had had several panic attacks and run (RUN) aimlessly up and down the street twice…..
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Thank you. You’re right, it is a nightmare. And very scary. Mr Hicks used to take himself off after a good smell and would be gone for about 20 mins most days, so I ended up walking him in large forests well away from roads and got pretty much used to it. Although once we passed the 20 min mark, I did start to worry and he did give me several scares when gone for longer.
I think Siddy is pretty typical of most dogs who escape from home – they just want to see what’s out there, but not really keen on doing it on their own. Our house now sits in the middle of the our plot, so there were no issues there and at our old house, the couple of time he got out, he headed straight for a neighbour’s to steal the children’s balls from their garden!
We think Poppy may have headed for her old home at a farm several miles away and it is farmland mostly in between, so harder to find her, but at least fewer roads in between too.
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I’m hoping she is found soon……
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Thank you. Still nothing today 😦 My poor friend is beside herself. It’s actually her daughter’s dog, but it escaped from my friend’s house.
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Oh heck – somehow that is even worse isn’t it. A vet nurse once told me (when Orlando had disappeared for a week) that cats travel in larger and larger circles when making their way back to previous residences, which is why it can take so long for them to arrive. I wonder if it is the same for dogs.
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Oh it is, isn’t it. She felt so awful and there was nothing I could do to console her. But, as you’ll see from the Sunday Sevens I’ve just posted, Poppy has returned.
Interesting about the cats. Mind my friend doesn’t live that far from her daughter and there’s definitely no badger sets between their two homes, so heaven know what Poppy was up to to be gone so long and stinking of badgers when she got back.
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I was so glad to hear she is back home – smelly or not I bet everyone is very happy!!
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Smelly was always good any day in our house, because it meant my boy had really enjoyed himself 🙂
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❤
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Oh my, poor thing and such a gorgeous doggie too, my heart goes out to your friends. What a great service thanks for highlighting it Bekki. I hope the doggie makes her way home soon.
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Thank you. Yes, a great service and something even non-dog owners can help with by signing up for alerts.
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Oh no this is so worrying
I really hope your friend gets some good news soon. Hope she has shared on facebook and local groups on fb. This has helped reunite lots of doggies that go awol in my local area.one of the few good things about Facebook. Xxx
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Thank you. Yes, something all dog owners dread. It was up on FB straight away on personal pages and local groups – Dog Lost do a lot of social media for you as well 🙂 Yep, FB isn’t all bad.
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I hope she turns up safe soon.xx
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Thank you xx
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It’s horrid when your dog disappears, I know I had a dog vanish once. Fortunately he was found very quickly and returned home. It actually took my family longer to find me as I was still out on the walk looking for him. My husband collected the dog and my son came to find me. I was so relieved.
I hope your friends dog is found soon.
I have found two dogs in my time. One joined us on a walk having escaped from his garden.
One turned up in the garden one afternoon. He had vanished four days earlier apparently on a walk and had travelled 15 miles over the South Downs. His owners were so pleased when the police contacted them and they came and collected him from me. he was tired, thristy and wolfed down some cat food which was all that I had. it being in my pre dog days.
Found several cats too…..
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You’re right, it is horrible – even if only for a short time. Dread to think how my friend is feeling now we’re on day 4.
Wow! Fifteen miles is a long way. I’ve found plenty of lost dogs, but never a cat. Although I had a friend that had a cat go missing and turn up 5 years later and another whose cat vanished for 6 weeks then reappeared looking a shadow of his former self, but the vet said he was now the perfect weight 🙂
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Oh no, Bekki, that is such terrible news. I am keeping my fingers crossed she just ran to far and will find her way home again. Or someone will spot her and take her in and bring her back.
Thinking of you all.
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Thank you. Yes, very upsetting. Have everything crossed for good news today.
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Hoping for really good news now. Keeping everything crossed here too.
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Thank you 🙂
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I hope they have found her by now – border collies like to run, but hopefully, she will run back home, too.
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Thank you. She was formerly a wily farm dog, so the fact she hasn’t been spotted yet is definitely more positive than with other dogs. Still, that doesn’t make the worrying and not knowing any better.
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Absolutely it does not! Still no sign of her???
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Thank you. No, not yet 😦
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Can’t like this reply. 😢
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She’s back! 🙂 I’m sure you’ll like that 🙂
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Oh, I am so glad!!! Is she OK? Did she come back on her own or did someone find her?
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Me too. Yes, came back on her own – they found her sitting on the doorstep. Vet checked her over and gave a clean bill of health 🙂
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I had a cat that did that to me twice – went off for 5 days, I gave up hope. One morning Iopened the door to go to work, and there she was, waiting fro me to feed her. The other time she did it, I was lying out int he yard, reading and playing with the other cat, a cat walked up, I petted it, and didn’t even realize it was the missing one until she meowed at me! I can completely relate to the sense of relief and disbelief her owners have. So glad it turned out so well.
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I think cats are worse at disappearing than dogs – but then maybe it’s because no one fences them in and we don’t walk them and train them to recall like dogs? 🙂
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Laughing at the thought of doing any of that to a cat! 😂. Wish we could, though. If they came when we called, we might let ours out now and then!
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🙂
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Every dog owner’s worst nightmare! We lost Fifi for half a day once, years ago. After spending hours searching the entire village, we found her curled up under the bed nursing a painful cyst, which was why she hadn’t come when called. Fourteen years on and I still feel the same sense of panic rising when I recall it. I didn’t know about the dogs lost organisation, so thank you for the info and I do hope Poppy is reunited with her owners very soon.
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Thank you. Yes, it’s a hideous feeling, panic then the longer it goes on, all the worrying about what might have happened/be happening to her. Bless Fifi, that cyst must have really hurt to not come when called 😦 It’s a shame there’s not wier knowledge of dogs lost – so many dog owners out on walks every day who might spot a lost dog.
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