Finding lost dogs.

[Stilly bay]

So the heavy cover thread got me thinking, what measures do you take to prevent losing a dog and what measures do you take once you have lost one in the big woods or out in the field?

Obviously Micro chips, ID tags, and calls to the nearest animal shelters / vet clinics are the order of the day- but what do you do when you are out grouse hunting and can't see further than 20 yards and all of a sudden the dog is just gone? For the sake of this thread we will say that your Astro failed if you own one.

[Houndhunter]

My dogs have name plates, Garmin collar, and long range beep collar. Had a lost pup while back when the Garmin died and he had no beep collar, got me pretty worried after a day in a half out in the woods till he was found. My dogs will always have a long range beep collar on from now on, their good insurance and you will eventually find your dog

[Happy Gilmore]

it's popular to have a collar with the brass plate w/ name and contact info. Some people have it printed, "must have daily medications/reward if found" to deter folks from thinking about keeping the dog.

[Stilly bay]

it's popular to have a collar with the brass plate w/ name and contact info. Some people have it printed, "must have daily medications/reward if found" to deter folks from thinking about keeping the dog.

Good point. I recently read somewhere that people are 40% more likely to keep a dog they found if they know its name.
Nobody wants a walking vet bill and everyone likes money so  "needs meds and reward" would be a good use of space on that brass plate.

[AspenBud]

So the heavy cover thread got me thinking, what measures do you take to prevent losing a dog and what measures do you take once you have lost one in the big woods or out in the field?

Obviously Micro chips, ID tags, and calls to the nearest animal shelters / vet clinics are the order of the day- but what do you do when you are out grouse hunting and can't see further than 20 yards and all of a sudden the dog is just gone? For the sake of this thread we will say that your Astro failed if you own one.

Leave your shirt in the area you lost the dog in and don't move your vehicle until you absolutely have to. Your dog will often go looking for you when they realize they've lost you and if you aren't in the area they have to rely on your scent to find you.

If your Garmin Astro or Alpha hasn't gone dead and the dog simply dropped off the screen, keep it turned on. When I lost mine he dropped off screen and he popped back up after 2+ hours just as I was about to drive my rig up the two track to look for him further away.

As for prevention, from experience, it helps to keep moving through the brush. Often times my dogs use that sound as a way to keep track of me whether they are 20 yards out or 150. I also "sing" to my dogs and will use a short verbal command to let them know I'm changing direction when they're out of sight (if a whistle floats your boat instead, use that). An e-collar helps with that too.

I'll also say that buying dogs (thinking of pointing dogs here) from lines known to be good foot hunting dogs is a good way to alleviate a lot of stress. Sure, there are lots of guys who hunt grouse with dogs from horseback lines and do so very successfully. But at the end of the day those dogs will do what they were bred to do. If that's what makes a person happy, go for it. But while a Ryman English Setter might not have the exciting flare that a field trial setter does, guys still shoot piles of birds over them and those dogs are generally 75-100 yard dogs max. There are similar examples in every breed (that would be another good thread).

Extensively training recall and using any combination of Garmin Astro/Alpha, bell, and beeper is just part of the game in my opinion. You have to train it and you have to have them.

[AspenBud]

it's popular to have a collar with the brass plate w/ name and contact info. Some people have it printed, "must have daily medications/reward if found" to deter folks from thinking about keeping the dog.

Good point. I recently read somewhere that people are 40% more likely to keep a dog they found if they know its name.
Nobody wants a walking vet bill and everyone likes money so  "needs meds and reward" would be a good use of space on that brass plate.

That's why microchipping is a good idea. Many, if not all, vet clinics will check for a chip anymore, at least with new dogs, and shelters always do.

Call me cynical, but I think a person will steal a dog, name or no name on the plate, if that's how they roll. But a chip will make it hard to hide that the dog is not theirs. Of course, that assumes the dog hasn't been picked up to be some jerk's bait dog for his pit bulls etc.

[wildweeds]

Old school recovery device is somewhat archaic as compared to the garming but................. the batteries on the collars run for 16,000 hours before they go belly up.I accidently didn't turn off my marshall collar after the last hunt of the season 2 years ago,That collar ran  24/7 from january 4th until october the 20th and was still transmitting when I pulled it from my bag of tricks.

I've got both an Garmin and a Marshall field marshall with collars,the only differences between the two is the battery life and the yardage on the screen.

I've got a 12 year old dog that is chipped,his chip has been unreadable/findable for 5 years.

[Don Fischer]

My collars have my name and phone number on them and offer a reward.

[bracer40]

Micro chip: check
Collar w/ reward, needs meds & only my contact info w/ multiple #s: check
Garmin: check
Really loud whistle: check
Trash broken: check (at least so far!)
Strong recall training: check

Fortunately we haven't been separated for several years, but I do like the idea of leaving a piece of clothing for the dog to find if you have to leave the area for some reason.

[get one leakin]

Leave your coat on the ground where you last had the dog.  If you come back later or the next morning he'll be laying there right with it, have had it happen with my dogs.

[JJD]

Will ad reward and med need on next brass name tags.

I like the tags that have slots in them so they slide onto the collar.  You can change them out to the new collar ya get your dog for Christmas every year