NINKOjIN

And today we have a perfect example of why I always keep a collar on my dog...

...Riley slipped away from me and ran off in the woods that we usually play in with a long lead. However, he had no lead and wasn't responding to recall, way too excited. We wound up with three people trying to get him, and he took off so fast, further into the woods that he had ever gone. My heart sank. It seemed like he was running away on purpose, making it a game. He ran by me a couple of times, and then I lost sight of him.

Wound up walking through the woods for two hours trying to find him. Eventually he came out of nowhere and flew by me, again, playfully running around. Again, he took off before I could grab him. I finally ended up catching him when he went into a VERY FAR neighbor's yard. I walked to their front street and pretended it was a "walk as usual" and just called for him to come catch up with me. I went ahead of him and pretended to ignore him a bit. He finally ran up and tried to pass me (he likes to be out front when we walk) and I got him.

But boy, if he didn't have his collar on I would have passed out. We have hunters and all sorts of weirdos around here, so I was dreading he might be shot or stolen.

Lesson learned though. He got a bath, all the thorns pulled out of him, and I'm never letting him even NEAR the door without a leash. When he was finally back inside his personality seemed changed as well, like he had experienced this wonderful freedom in the woods and didn't want to listen or be inside anymore. He whined at the door, which he had never done, and he seems reluctant to follow usual commands, even for affection or treats. Hoping the excitement wears off and we get back into routine again.

Pleh.

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Sue Strohecker

. We have hunters and all sorts of weirdos around here, so I was dreading he might be shot( Qoute from above post)

THIS IS WHAT MY KIDS ARE WEARING DURING HUNTING SEASON INCASE A AHOLE HUNTER DECIDES TO COME ON OUR LAND AND HUNT

NINKOjIN

Luckily he did have a reflective coat on, since we had just been playing outside beforehand. And yeah, I'm 99% positive people aren't allowed to hunt in these woods, but I often hear gunshots all the same. It really pisses me off.

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Sam1491

I'm an in between to the options on this old post. Our dogs are collared with tags at all times until they "grow up".

My mom's collies always have them as they like to escape at last once no matter how we dog proof the yard. (no we aren't always out with them/watching them)
Mabel still has horrible outdoor recall in unfenced areas so she still has hers, when she becomes reliable i'll only have tags on when we go places as we usually do with our dogs.

in the end i'd rather have than have not, mabel's reactivity aside, tags really trigger peoples attention and get you calls, strays sometimes stay in the "caring" persons home never reported to the paper or humane society and never being returned because someone "thinks" they were doing a good thing taking her in.

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SnoopsMom

My dog hates his collar.. tried several, he'll do anything to get it off unless we're on a walk...

Snoop the doberman watching TV - YouTube

kmbeach22

I share your fears. Jasmine's microchipped. When Jasmine's inside the house, she's usually naked but sometimes has a collar on. She sleeps naked too (well, no collar, but sometimes jammies and/or her blankie).

When she's outside, she always has at least a collar on. If we're on walks, I use the easy walk harness, and she usually also has her black collar on too (gotta match the harness and collar, she's fancy haha). When I take her to the park, she wears her collar. If she's in the yard, then she wears her scoobie collar (it's a red collar with a yellow and silver tag, it looks like scoobie doo haha).