My sweet coonhound ran away!!!

[LaurenBev]

Leo, my Bluetick Coonhound got away from me this afternoon after a walk. He's a rescue dog, and we think was a hunting dog in his previous life with his previous owner. It's a long story, but I took his leash off and lost hold of him and he was off, into the woods. I chased him for a while, but he's too fast and agile and I couldn't keep up in the thick woods, and he wouldn't come when called - we've been working on coming when called in obedience class for months - he's terrible at it. I even had chicken on me.

Anyway, now its dark and I'm sitting home stewing, going crazy, hoping he's alright. It's windy and cold out there. I hope he can find his way home. It's only been about 2.5 hours, but if feels like forever. I'm scared that he will freeze tonight - we're in Vermont and it's cold. I'm scared he might get hit by a car. I'm scared he won't be able to find his way home, because my hunch is that this might be how he wound up a rescue dog in the first place. He is wearing his collar with his ID tags, but who knows if/when someone will find him. He doesn't come when called.

I'm crazy about this dog and I feel awful and irresponsible and I don't know what else to do but wait. I've already tried driving around, but it's dark, and I'm pretty sure he's in the woods "hunting" and I don't want to be gone if he comes home.

Leo, please come home!!!

[luckypenny]

Places to call immediately:

Police station
Vet offices
City Hall
Shelters
Rescues
Municipal Garage (if it's snowing where you are, the trucks will be out and they can look for Leo)
All neighbors (if they see him coming near your home, they can call you asap)
Local radio stations...yes, they will most likely air a "missing dog" report.


Make posters immediately, send emails/faxes to all these places.

Go back to the place where you both first started out. One of our dogs, with a high prey/hunting drive, came right back to where we started ...it was to our parked car which was an hour's walk away from where he took off.

[BusterBoo]

hoping that Leo finds his way home....what a beautiful dog

[mollywog]

oh no! I was so sad to read this. I remember you posting about Leo many times before. Don't feel guilty, that won't help you! Did he run away from the house? Or were you somewhere else? Don't lose hope yet, I am sure he has an excellent nose and can find his way back to you!

[LaurenBev]

Ok, thanks. I'm working down that list. We started from home, so hopefully he'll come back here. I put some meat and some of my dirty laundry on the porch - someone suggested I do that, too.

Going to make flyers now. The neighbors are pretty few and far between - it's real rural here - but the ones nearby know.

[diandpat]

Aw, that is so scary...C'mon Huney, you finally have a great home! C'mon Home

Are you able to BBQ the meat??? If he is around and he must be getting hungry the smell might lure him out

Keep working on Luckypenny's list.

and Good Luck.

Keep us posted

[rainbow]

Luckypenny has covered everything in her list and leaving something with your scent outside is a great idea too.

How far is it from your house to where he got loose? Do you and Leo do this same walk daily? If so, hopefully he will find his way back when he gets hungry. Good luck.

[LaurenBev]

My husband found him in the road about 1/4 mile from our house. He's back safe and sound. Thanks for all the advice and well wishes. Now I have to start calling all the places I just called to tell them that Leo is home safe. They probably think I'm a lunatic, but, oh well - my houndbaby is home!

[aslan]

yay for good news he was probably working his way home, hounds have amazing sense of smell. Now tell him he's grounded for scaring you...

[rainbow]

WOOO HOOO......glad Leo made it back home.

When your hubby found him on the road was he headed your way?

[diandpat]

Yahoozie!!!!

I think you should post some pics just so we can be sure it is him!

[mollywog]

phew.... glad to hear. thanks for the update.

[luckypenny]

*finally exhales*

Truly wonderful news!

[LaurenBev]

Ok, since you asked... enjoy.

My husband thinks I should post a picture of the huge pile of used tissues on the coffee table - been doing a little bit of blubbering over here for the past 4 hours or so. But no more tears, now that my stinky houndbaby is home safe.

Hmm, maybe I AM a lunatic!!

Oh, so the story goes like this - my hubby found him peaking out from the woods - guess he heard the car coming and was checking it out. So, he opened up the passenger side door and Leo bounded in. Then Hubby had to get out and go around and close the passenger side door. By the time he got back to the drivers seat, Leo was curled up, asleep and snoring!! Guess he had a busy afternoon.

[luckypenny]

Leo is beyond precious . I'm so relieved he's home.

[diandpat]

OMG he is just so cute.

I think there is a coonhound for adoption right now at the Montreal SPCA, or at least a mix. Too sweet.

So glad he is home and I'll bet he is too.

Don't know how why he was offleash but doesn't sound like he is ready for it yet, especially if you live near the woods with that nose!

Sleep well tonight, all of you

[hazelrunpack]

Whew! Glad I didn't see this until after Leo was home again!

How scary!

[badger]

That is an excessively cute dog. Looks pretty damn pleased with himself. The epsiode with him getting in the car and then claiming the driver's seat - hilarious!
Glad he's back. You get to sleep tonight.

[Dracko]

Stories like this make me so glad Dracko is a non runner. When I get home and let him out of the vehicle he runs directly to the front door. If I have him out and off leash (in an appropriate place) he literally continually looks back at me staying only a few feet ahead and will run back and hit the leash with his nose.

I'm glad you found your dog. I was scrolling through the thread hoping you had before I got to the end.

[Longblades]

I think you will a hard time ever trusting this dog off leash. He is hard wired to run off on his own and if it were me I would be afraid to trust that any amount of training would be sufficient to overcome his genetic tendency to hunt and track. Our friend who runs hounds has GPS locator collars on them. Have you considered one?

Glad he is back safe and sound.

The collar mentionned above did save one of our friend's dogs once. He was hunting and the signal disappeared into someone's barn. The man whose barn it was thought he'd just keep himself a nice looking coonhound and said, nope, haven't seen your dog mister, not realizing the collar was transmitting right to the owner. He knew the dog was in the barn and the barn owner had shut the doors to keep her. Needless to say our friend got his dog back.

[badger]

I misread. He is still a charmng boy.

[catlover2]

LaurenBev, Count yourself very lucky to get your beautiful dog back! Yep that's what hounds like to do....go huntin'!
My father used to keep a Walker hound mainly for deer hunting. He had it for about 2 years and then lost it hunting on Manitoulin Island, and he never did find it. He used to hunt with a group of other men there every year during deer season, and it seemed every year one of them would lose one of their dogs. Once they get on the scent, it seems no amount of obedience training will bring them back. They are one-tracked on the scent. I used to have a Saluki (sight hound) that went through basic obedience and was good in the arena where they held the classes, but off leash he would never come back until he wanted, and was good and tired from running.

[chico2]

Awww,what a relief,he's back home

[LaurenBev]

Yes, I know I am very lucky. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that that's how Leo ended up with us in the first place - he took himself hunting and never found his way home (to his previous owner). We rescued him from our local shelter after he was picked up from the side of the road somewhere in NC, starving and very sick. I was so scared that that was going to happen to him all over again if we couldn't find him, and was SO relieved when we found him again!

Thanks again for the well wishes, and advice - you can be sure that Leo won't be let off leash again - his nose just can't be trusted!

[rainbow]

Thanks for the update.

I somehow missed the last set of pics of handsome Leo and I really love his close-up shot.

[erykah1310]

Yup, not showing my man his pictures either... too many hounds its not safe for Guy to lurk here EVAH

So glad he's home and he is a stunning boy. But... I'm not so sure its the right hound. I think we're going to need some more pics...

[chico2]

Erykah,these two @#$%two houses away from me has a longlegged hound,he was baying outdoors all summer,a really weird sound..I'd never heard that before.
He is a sad pup,with lazy owners:sad:
Now,Horton is just something else

[erykah1310]

One day I will consider a hound for him, but I'm really trying to get him more into bird dogs. I know his dream dog would be a "Horton" 100% but I'm just not ready for hounds here at this time in my life. The baying is a good reason as to why and then we already have a TM who can never be trusted off leash and I only have so many arms

[chico2]

OH yes Erykah,you have a TM and we need some new pics of that beautiful pup,ok

[Adriann27]

I'm so happy he's home!! I just love him!! He's so precious!! Just wanna kiss and hug him!!