# Has your Golden ever been lost?



## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

One time my dogs got "lost" when we had Dusty who was 1 or 2, and the old Lab Beau who was 13 or 14. Some idiot left the gate unlocked (I think it was tree trimmers but I don't remember because it was several years ago). We came home and the dogs weren't in the yard, so we called a bunch of neighbors and the pound and spent hours driving around the neighborhood looking for them. Found the dogs laying underneath the neighbor's boat which was parked in the neighbor's driveway. I guess they were REALLY asleep the first 20 times we were around there and called them. That was really wierd.

There was another time when my mom and I came home from an agility trial with Dusty and Boo was missing, but it turned out that my dad had taken him on a bike ride and forgot to leave a note :doh:


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## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

I cannot even imagine.....Samson is like one of the kids....


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## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

We lost four of them at one time. Jesse and Cider kept shaking the gate until the latch let go. The two of them, along with two females took off (ouch). I went looking for them and found the two females (they did not go far) but Jesse and Cider were gone. I kept hoping they would come home, but no luck. I spent the entire night putting flyers in mail boxes, hoping someone had seen them. The next day, the local GR club sent out a search and rescue dog. That dog was unbelievable, he was really on the trail. In the mean time, I called all of the local vets and the animal shelters. By noon, one of the shelters gave me a call, and said we have your dogs.

I asked if he was sure they were mine, and he said no doubt about it. Well, that shelter was a good twenty miles away, so I took a drive out there. When I got there it was Jesse and Cider. It turns out that they were picked up within five miles of the house, and the nearest shelter was that far away.

That gate now has a padlock on it. I've never been so upset and worried as I was that day. Jesse and Cider are my boys, and I could not stand to loose them like that.


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## gold4me (Mar 12, 2006)

Now that is a scary scary thought.


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## PeggyK (Apr 16, 2005)

Not a Golden, but our Samoyed mix Bandit and mixed breed Champ(we're not good with picking names!) blasted through the door when my son opened it to go sleigh riding. They were gone all day and at 11PM only Champ came home-very strange because they were ALWAYS together. My husband slept in the living room waiting for the scratch at the door that never came. Kids stayed home the nexr day and trekked through the woods looking for him-we were afraid he was stuck in a trap. We called the police, the local shelter(even went up to walk through the kennel in case he was there and they didn't recognize the description)-even put it on the local radio station. My husband's HS football team was all on the lookout for him-we put flyers all over town and by the 3rd day I was hysterical!!!!! Can you believe-10 days later I got a call that he had been living with a family about a mile from our house(through the woods) but she GAVE HIM AWAY!!! He was living about 40 miles away and when I called the family they didn't want to give him back. They said they loved him-my response was that my children had spent 10 days in a frantic search-he's OUR dog-and I want him back!!! My husband reminded me that we had so many pictures of him with the kids, we were friendly with all the local police(many were ex football players of my husband) and that we'd get him back. I drove to the house with my youngest son who about 6 at he time and Bandit didn't want to get in the car with us-almost like he had forgotten us-I finally had to pick him up and put him in-I drove about a block and all of a sudden he went CRAZY all over my son-crying and licking him all over!!! Then he jumped over the seat and squeezed himseld under the steering wheel and was on my lap for the ride home. I picked up my older son at school with Bandit in the car and when we got home called the Elementary school and the secretary called my daughter's classroom and announced to al that Bandit was home. The whole class started cheering!!! I always thought this would make a great Reader's Digest story!!!! Bandit lived to be 16 1/2 and was a wonderful friend and protector-no one would dare come in our house when they heard him!!!


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## PeggyK (Apr 16, 2005)

My first Golden Boomer wasn't really lost but when getting out of the car one night(before obedience training) he pulled so hard that I dropped the flexi leash and he went blasting into the woods. I figured he'd be right back but fifteen minutes later we heard him barking. My children and I walked where we thought he was and when he saw us he STOPPED barking-so now we can't follow the bark!! We'd turn around and walk away and he'd start again in a few minutes. We'd take a few steps and he'd stop again-even with flashlights it took some time to find him-with the flexi wrapped around a tree!


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## Buffy & Abby's Mom (Nov 27, 2005)

Buffy had gotten out of fence a couple of times in her younger and wilder puppy days and would take off down the street. Each time we knew it and would follow her and try to get her but she was determined to explore on her own. Each time though we were able to nab her within 10 minutes I guess. It's been at least 3 years since one of those episodes, Thank God! I would be worried to death if they got out and I didn't know where they were.

I voted No for never been lost because really she wasn't lost - just being a bratty puppy.


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

Thankfully no!! I wouldn't be able too sleep a wink if that would ever happen. That would be a worst nightmare for me.


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## DevonTT (Aug 5, 2006)

I heard this story from my dog's former owners... When Chaz was a puppy, he spent most of the time in the backyard with his sire and dam. One day when he was about 12 weeks old, he dug a hole under the fence and disappeared.

The family searched the neighborhood for him to no avail. Heartbroken, they filled the hole back in so the other dogs couldn't escape, and resigned themselves to the thought that Chaz had been picked up by someone and was truly gone.

Two days later, Chaz showed up again on their back deck. He'd dug his way *back into the yard*. He must have been one determined pup!


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

DevonTT said:


> I heard this story from my dog's former owners... When Chaz was a puppy, he spent most of the time in the backyard with his sire and dam. One day when he was about 12 weeks old, he dug a hole under the fence and disappeared.
> 
> The family searched the neighborhood for him to no avail. Heartbroken, they filled the hole back in so the other dogs couldn't escape, and resigned themselves to the thought that Chaz had been picked up by someone and was truly gone.
> 
> Two days later, Chaz showed up again on their back deck. He'd dug his way *back into the yard*. He must have been one determined pup!


Now that is funny story. He's a problem-solving type of dog.


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## Pablo (Jan 3, 2006)

*Remember to microchip in case they get lost*

For our first Golden we had his AKC number tattoo'ed, but then "upgraded" to a microchip and all his brothers got microchipped as well.

We pick up a lot of lost dogs, many without collars. A couple of them had microchips and we were able to locate the owners that way fairly easily when we took them to the shelter.

-Pablo


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

None of my dogs, ever. And I let them off leash all the time (I'm sure that's why they DON'T run off).

However, I have placed a dog and the new owner has lost him. What could have been a tragedy ended up okay in both cases, but I did remove the dog and place him in a better home in one case. In another, with much debate they were allowed to keep the dog. Accidents do happen.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

Well, it wasn't so much KayCee was lost as I thought she was. I couldn't find her in any of her usual spots she naps in. I had been gone and I was so sure one of my sons had come over for something (they have keys to our house) and she had gotten out. I was frantic--til I hear scratching on the one bedroom we did not use at the time and always kept the door shut. Buck had the othe spare room. 

Well, I had gone into that room to get some material I was going to be using and i guess KayCee followed me in and i didn't see her and I just shut the door on her when i came out. Had run over to Walmart to get some thread, etc and never realized she wasn't around. Almost had a heart attack. If she had not scratched on the door, it probably would have been hours before I even checked that room as I had not seen her come in.


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## Oralia Schatzman (Jun 12, 2006)

Technically, no. Bentley can be left only places that he's been to at least once before or he will try to find us. Last summer, we visited my father-in-law in Hemet, California, where the temperature averaged 108. We arrived in the morning to take the old folks to breakfast and left Bentley safe and sound, so we thought, in the air-conditioned house with their Schnauzer. We drove off and I had an uncomfortable gut feeling the entire three hours that we were away. When we returned to the house, where Bent would normally be bounding and circling like crazy, silence. I immediately went beserk and ran screaming like a maniac through the streets of the quiet senior complex and alarmed several seniors, all of whom pointed in different directions. A kind man, having seen a very large Golden Retriever wandering the street, took care of Bent for the entire three hours after calling our home in Oakland several times. Bentley had squeezed his 95 lbs through the Schnauzer's doggie door; apparently if the muzzle can squeeze through, so can the rest of a determined dog!


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## ty823 (Feb 7, 2006)

I often find myself walking around the neighborhood, yelling for my 'lost' dog Lucy, only to find that I had left her shut in the house or the garage. :doh: idiot.

That is the closest she has ever been to being lost I guess. She doesn't like to let me out of her sight.


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## sashac (Mar 13, 2006)

Our first Golden, Lady, got out of the side gate once when the gardeners left it ajar. We had no idea until about 2 hours later when we couldn't find her in any of her usual spots. It was pouring rain outside, and my dad and I got in the car and drove up and down the neighborhood streets, calling her name. Finally, getting really frantic, we got out of the car and started running through the streets in the rain, now screaming her name. I remember crying so hard while we were running. My mom, who was left standing guard at home, kept calling my dad's cell, to see if we'd found her. She was crying too. We finally came home, soaked and freezing, depressed. The plan was to make more phone calls then change and go back out in the rain again. We get to the front door, and who was sitting on the porch, safely out of the rain, WARM and DRY, looking at us like, "what took so long, I've been freezing out here". We cracked up laughing with relief. We should have known our spoiled brat wasn't going to go far in the rain. She didn't even have one wet strand of fur - we think she got out of the gate and was like "heck no - i'm going back" but the gate had shut behind her so she waited at the front door instead. 

We still can't get over it.


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## orfjara (May 22, 2005)

No mine have never been lost as I live on an island and most people would know they were my dogs.


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## potatolover (Jan 12, 2007)

Genki was lost once when he's around 1 year old. Mom and I always walk him on a leash and are super vigilant. One fine day, however, my dad suddenly decided he felt he would like to walk him. This was his first time. Everything went fine until my dog made a pile, and my dad bent down to scoop it up with newspaper. He didn't expect Genki to blast off and so he forget to hold on to the leash. My dog disappeared and my dad yelled his name on the top of his voice. Genki was enjoying his freedom too much though. 

My dad gave up looking for him, thinking that 'He's a dog, he knows how to get back home.' So he went back home. An hour later, as he was drinking his cup of tea and looking out of the window, he saw our dog sitting very elegantly next to the staircase leading to our floor(we live in an apartment on the second floor. 

When dad told us what happened, we didn't know whether to be angry or 'thankful', cos he took the trouble to take our dog out(and he's not the sort of caring dad that does you favours from time to time).


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## Ninde'Gold (Oct 21, 2006)

Tucker got out the back gate once, luckily he's a food addict and all my mom had to do was yell "TREAT!" and he came running right back.

He's tattooed but its all stretched out now and you can't read it, we're getting him microchipped.


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## Katiesmommy (Sep 10, 2006)

I voted - NO. I would go crazy !!!


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## VeronicaLovesHerGoldens (May 27, 2005)

On occasion Zaz will be in the front yard when I'm looking for him in the back and I get that sinking heart feeling because you start thinking worse case scenario (bad habit of mine) but never actually been lost!! THANK GOD!!! Cosmo is never off leash because he's too young and not to be trusted yet!


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## rosemary (Jul 7, 2007)

reguarly in the last 18 months when in the local woods 3 times at the local police station once he followed a jogger home and the longest length of time he went missing was four hours in one of our local parks well he is pretty deaf so cant here me calling him these days hes kept on a flexi lead cos it scares me to death when he goes missing luckily we generally walk in the same places so people have got to know me and wait up for me knowing that i am going to go looking for him


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

No, but a Golden I dog sit was!!!! 15 days!!!!!!


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Courtney lost Keira on a walk a week or so back. I found her in about ten minutes, but not without some panic. I've never lost one of mine.


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## Bailey & Bentley (Feb 25, 2007)

No, TG. They tried to get away once, but I chased them down the street in my pajamas! Better luck next time!:smooch:


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