Only ever had this happen once and it was our previous lab BJ. It happened one snowy Christmas when the bins weren't emptied for a few weeks because of the weather and BJ's nose obviously told him this. We were frantic and had kind neighbours helping us look for him, yomping over fields in 3 odd feet of snow etc. He was eventually tracked down in a hotel yard, where the bins were, containing several turkey carcases He never did it again.
Its just like an arms race with them. you add a new obstacle they up their game If you think labs are bad i know some people with terriers they are frightening. fire engines attending and digging them out etc. One if my friends who has borders has a garden like a prison camp.
Luckily Harley isn't an escape artist, we have great boundary walls but the partition between the front of the back yard and front is not strong. Yesterday evening we took Harls for a walk on a new trail and when we pulled up in the car we saw two other people with dogs standing together with a bunch of dogs. As we climbed out of the car one of the men came towards us and asked if we were fetching our dogs. By that time we were out of the car with Harley and had a brief conversation with him about Harley, he also informed us that he and another man with his dogs were trying to catch two collie-type dogs that appeared lost, and were definitely there without owners. The first man said he has been walking dogs there daily for 36 years and he doesn't know these dogs. We went into the first part of the walk which is a field and the two dogs came running up to Harley. She was super well behaved and DH was about to hold onto one dog's collar so that we could read the info on it. Unfortunately, it was written in pen so the number had faded but the address was clear. So I made my way back to the car so that I could go notify the owners. The female decided that was a great idea and sprinted to our car and stood at the door. Once opened she hopped in and settled on the seat. The male was a little hesitant but his sister was in so he let me help him in. The female had some flecks of grey in her face already and she was just adorable. So we drove the 4 blocks to the address and the owner was in the driveway. Now, DH and I are really very happy to return dogs to homes but this is the second time in 2 weeks (different dogs) and the owners are very blase about it. This one said öh they do this all the time" and I replied that they seemed a little distressed. He yelled at the dogs and briefly said "oh thanks" over his shoulder and the dogs nearly bolted down the road again. I made a strong suggestion that they redo the dog's tag so that it is legible and then went back to DH and the second man who was still waiting to see if everything was okay with the collies. It was quite funny because he had two miniature schnauzers who were a little grouchy with Harls. And she was just the sweetest pup with them, even though she was 4 times their size. Anyway, this is just a story about finding dogs, not having them run away but I do think labs love to wander and explore so maybe that has something to do with it? Oh and Malamutes too! They are terrible, we have returned so many Malamutes to their homes over the years.
It's so tough Kate @Beanwood but it's probably a habit with Casper, he did it in his previous home so he will probably always do it. Charlie has never absconded from home, thank goodness but he was (I love being able to say WAS ) a serial absconder on walks so I understand your stress and fear. xx
Well actually I was just thinking, I can't remember the last time Casper disappeared on a walk...he is definitely much improved on that front. We do have a lot of interesting smells at the moment. From deer, to rather a lot of foxes, that time of year I guess,and the odd one has come down into the garden, or has been spotted on the driveway, rather stimulating for Casper.
Charlie says, he totally gets ya' Casper No matter how much we have trained Charlie's countryside home environment is still the most stimulating thing to him. It's tough living in the countryside but Casper has done really well not to have disappeared on a walk for a long time. Good boy xx
