Speaker 1: 0:37

Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world.

Speaker 1: 0:57

Okay, so the adventures of bobble what to do with a missing dog and I'm actually going to give you an example of me losing a dog who actually we worked out wasn't actually even lost. I just lost her. And here is a big place so they can find little places to hide in a in a scenario. However, we're going to talk through all of that this week's Sexing the Squirrel what to do with a missing dog. Now let's talk into how the missing dog scenario even started. Bobble is a toy poodle. He's tiny, he's cute, he would be very, very likable and he's very, very much wanted. So people would love to find a dog like Bobble, I'm sure. Also, he's easily scared because he's he's fairly small, like he's easily the type that could, could, could go, he's a baby and he's only young. Uh, what happened, linda?

Speaker 2: 1:39

so what happened was I had was out on a walk with my naughty but nice dog, with my whole pack, and because I have to manage my naughty but nice dog by moving away from other dogs, my procedure with Bobble at that point was I would move away, scatter feed but hold Bobble in my arms because he was still like six months old, so six months old.

Speaker 2: 2:05

I'd pick him up and then I'd scatter feed for the other dogs and as the strange dog came down the footpath, my phone rang and I'd been talking to. I had taken some serious calls on my phone so I was distracted momentarily and in that moment my naughty but nice dog chose to launch himself at the passing dog and I have my dogs on a waist belt and as I, as he pulled, he twisted me around and I realised I was going to fall over. So I've got Bobble in my arms and I'm on the way down doing those split-second decisions. What do I do in this moment? Do I crush the dog onto the floor? Do I throw it onto the floor? Will I break its legs? Do I throw him in the air? What?

Speaker 1: 2:48

do, I do Parachute movement. We need to make light-hearted of it because if not, these things haunt us it is. You know, it's like everything slows, oh yes isn't it same as when you come off a horse and I remember making that decision when a horse was rearing on me and I just thought I'm gonna jump and I did. I jumped and lisa said no, you were so brave and I just jumped. But you do, you have that moment. You make a decision. Everything slows right down.

Speaker 2: 3:14

So I made the decision that I was going to fall onto my arms and brace myself so that he hit the floor on his side. But he didn't get crushed Anyway, he didn't squeal or anything. But the people by this time were shouting get your dog off of my dog. There was a kerfuffle going on so I jumped to my feet to sort out my naughty but nice dog and my other one that had followed him, and I was talking quite loud as well. So, bob, I presume at that point he's shouting a very unsafe person, ping, get here, lie down there. I'm really sorry to these people and they just linked it. They just wanted to part the scene very, very quickly. I turned around no bubble, bubble vanished, bubble had evaporated.

Speaker 1: 4:04

So I'm going Tiny poodle, scared, worried about voices, doesn't understand a fuffle needs to go into flight mode. He's gone, flight mode.

Speaker 2: 4:14

He's just gone. He's gone, he's hidden somewhere or he's run away. I had no idea which direction he'd gone in. On one side was a wheat crop, there was a footpath that the people went down. I was pretty sure he wouldn't have followed them because their dog would have told them them that he was following them, if you see what I mean, that he would have. Their dog would have picked up. They'd been followed by another dog. I didn't think he'd gone that way. But then there was this woodland area with lots of brambles and hawthorn and cleavers and I don't know what else.

Speaker 2: 4:44

So I'm calling, I'm calling, I'm calling, I'm calling nothing, absolutely nothing. So I took the rest, my other pack, back to the van, which was about about three-quarters of a mile away. So I walked them back and I came back with one dog. My dogs do tracking and searching, so I prompted the dog to search and they went into this woodland, but they didn't direct me. Well, I couldn't see Bobble. So that was sort of right. So I got one of Bobble's blankets and put it right at the point where he had gone. So I put something that's not familiar on the footpath, went back to the van, phoned my husband I've lost the puppy and he came down and he was calling and nothing. So I con I put on a local facebook group that this puppy had gone missing. My concern was that if I, if he was out overnight, I don't think he would survive. I mean, I have a feeling a fox would have got him or something, because he's like little one one and a half kilos, two kilos.

Speaker 2: 5:54

So I phoned the drone to home people. The charity and the advice they gave me was A to leave something that was my smell near where he went missing and, b to leave the vehicle where it was, but with the doors open. Now I wouldn't have thought to leave the doors open, but anyway, leave the vehicle where it is with the doors open. Now I wouldn't have thought to leave the doors open, but anyway, leave the vehicle where it is with the doors open and stop calling, and I think we should have stopped calling much earlier, but anyway we didn't. So it was about half past three in the afternoon. We did a lot of searching, tracking, walking about, walking through the crop, walking through this room no sign of him.

Speaker 2: 6:34

I took the other dogs home in my husband's car, left the van where it was my husband was there and a couple of friends were there who know about poodles, and it was just about nine o'clock, so he'd been missing about five hours and the one of the friends walked past my van and they saw a little face, look out and there was Bobble and he'd made his three quarters of a mile back up the track covered in cleavers. So he'd obviously been in this woodland covered in cleavers and he'd got on the van and the van was his safe space. Bless him. So a tiny little poof.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Huge, huge learning there, I think the stopping calling, the, not having so many people out, like not turning it into a big, which I think a lot of people do, and you do yell for them and you yell yeah, but he couldn't have been more than a few meters away from.

Speaker 2: 7:26

Yeah, I've gone into flight, so he'd gone in. He'd gone into feral mode. He was just into surviving. Yeah, flight mode. He just in. He covered himself up somewhere you know.

Speaker 1: 7:36

I've had a couple of scenarios and I think it's worth us talking through these and with you to know what to do in a situation like this. Of course, communicate with everyone, but also make very clear that you don't want someone calling them and trying to grab them. It's more that you want to know if there's a sighting so that you can actually start to move things in that direction. The other thing that was really big for me is that when we lost our dog our dog actually she'd heard, I think, some sort of plane or red arrow or something go over and she'd bolted and she'd gone and hidden in behind a water pump at the site where we live. And yet we were calling, we were yelling like we were in desperation of where she'd, like no one had seen her, like we couldn't understand it, how she'd gone from the garden. It was almost like she'd been pinched, but she hadn't. We knew no one's been on site. We looked at the cctv as well. The thing was until everything went quiet and the only reason we saw her is because we put a flashlight, and we put flashlights around and we saw little eyes and she was hidden and she was right underneath rubble and everything she was in behind a water pump. But when they go into that mode, the verbal cue or the calling cue is actually not at all relevant and it's not helpful at all. It's actually almost the opposite, isn't it? It's unhelpful. And the other thing I thought was really worth telling people I, I looked at a drone site straight away as well, and I I contacted the drone company and I paid them and I was actually paying scammers and I paid a scamming company and in that moment of desperation I think we paid 575 pound.

Speaker 1: 8:55

In that moment of desperation you do stupid things. And it wasn't that I had anything like. I literally was just desperate. I didn't have anything on the company or anything. I just looked up UK drone, jumped onto UK drone and they actually had scammed me, which was a shock, and I didn't realize that until they didn't come out and we were still looking, and then I rang to say we'd found her and I actually was going to say I'm really appreciative that you were going to come out. There was no one to phone me. They'd gone, and so I think there are a lot of things we might do in an incident of a dog.

Speaker 2: 9:29

It may never have to use it, but check out bona fide search sites. Dog loss sites. Yeah, and there are some great ones and they're actually a charity. Yeah, so Drone to Home is a charity.

Speaker 1: 9:42

Yeah, SAR Search and Rescue Drone is a charity, and these had cloned a page and were acting like another page and the other page couldn't shut them down. But actually all of the communications were odd and if you'd seen it in a logical way, you'd have reasoned with it and gone. No, no, no, that's not okay, whereas actually when you're in panic you often don't. So I think there are some things to learn here from a lost dog, and you've run through a few tips. One was leave a blanket that's not familiar to him and of you. Two was leave the vehicle open and in the place that it was.

Speaker 1: 10:13

So you could track it back. Three was actually be quiet, Stop calling, Stop calling. Four and I think this is just one for everybody to know, because I think this is an interesting one You've got all your dogs there. It was useful to take them home in that scenario, and actually they went out of the equation.

Speaker 1: 10:30

Yeah, so they were gone and it took away some complexity from the situation. Yes, them out of the equation. Yeah, so they were going and it took away some complexity. Yes, from the situation. Yes, and five for me if you do use a drone company and I think the drone company is fantastic check them out to just make sure that they are directly the company they say they are. There are people that scam in situations where people are vulnerable. I was very vulnerable. I was pushing matt. I was like matt, you need to pay this company 575 pound, whatever. It was bang gone. There was no comeback on that. There was none. And if we paid with, like a credit card or PayPal, we would have had some level of but these charities don't charge Drone to Home.

Speaker 2: 10:59

didn't ask me for any money. Yeah, they sent me a whole load of YouTube videos on what I should be doing. They straight away set up a dog loss poster and had that on their site, on their Facebook page. So they did all of that.

Speaker 1: 11:12

it's a charity without ever asking yeah, it's a charity and then you can donate to them if you feel appropriate at some point. I think the other one I would say with with dogs lost is, for those moments, just no potentials for them. And and I've seen a couple lately with one of our dogs where something spooked her and actually I'll just put her straight back on a lead. Yeah, so she can just go on a long line or a flexi or a normal lead. I actually don't give her a second choice or a second chance. Actually, we're putting her on lead and we're not because I can see it coming and I can see hers is noise triggered and at the same time let's not leave it to chance and also let's not then put her in situations that I know are going to be a struggle for her.

Speaker 2: 11:46

So if Linda's going to be a situation maybe isn't in the equation or it's different, like you said, you've managed now observing Bobble and certainly there's been times when I see his ears go back, his nose goes up and his tail goes down and that's back on lead time something it's in the environment. That's probably part of this episode. Yeah, he goes straight back on the lead.

Speaker 1: 12:11

yeah, and you said the same with Ulla Yesterday. You walked her rather than her being up in front and adventuring for whatever reason, something had spooked her and she was behind you. These are things you notice and you notice them.

Speaker 1: 12:20

And you notice them and you want to put them on the lead or be a little bit aware of what they're doing, or even align or just become a little bit more aware to them. One of my dogs only recently went and hid in a bush on a walk and something annoyed or upset her. I think it was a bailing machine, a hay baler, and I think it clunked a few too many times for her and for whatever reason, she hid in a bush. The thing is, if you hadn't seen her go and hide in that bush, you'd never have known. It was like needle in a haystack, because she could have hidden in. It's a bridal path like there was no sign of her, just blows you away. Blows you away how, how, and you could call her until you're blue in the face. If they can't, they go into space. They just can't respond.

Speaker 2: 12:58

Well, if their instinct has told them they're in survival mode, then they can't respond to recalls, it's literally. It's like you might be calling, but you can be calling until you're blue in the face and you're just going to make it worse because it's putting pressure on them when they can't respond. Yeah they're not able to. No, they need quiet, always need quiet.

Speaker 1: 13:18

So I hope that Bobble's adventures have enabled you to think about whether your dog hopefully never goes on an adventure. But if they do go on an adventure like Bobble, then you actually have a bit of a backup plan. For me with Easy when she scooted on a noise, I think the panic that hits you as an owner is is huge, and you know what henry ford said. He said fail to prepare. Yes, prepare to fail, and I feel like the preparedness of talking through things like this. It also stops you panicking because you have a plan and of course, you're in panic, but there's slightly more strategic plan as to what you're doing, because at least when you know what you're doing, there's a chance that you can make logical decisions, where actually it probably did allow you to make more logical decisions as soon as you've spoken to them and now, knowing that, it calmed me down.

Speaker 2: 14:04

Yeah, the other thing that I'm very particular about and he had on him, he was wearing an identity tag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's so tiny he doesn't have a collar on, but he has an identity tag on. Yeah, yeah, and that he's so tiny he doesn't have a collar on, but he has an identity tag on his harness. Yeah, and I'm very particular about I mean, he doesn't wear anything in the house. Yeah, when he's out and about, he must always have an identity tag on, um, although he's chipped as well, but yeah, just that easy.

Speaker 1: 14:27

And with your chicks, have your information up to date, so I think that's also really important. So, dog loss no dog found. You guys are going to get this and sort this and have this and the preparing is really important and ultimately we hope it never happens to you. But maybe share this podcast because it's worth sharing, isn't it? It's worth your obedience students knowing, it's worth my agility students knowing, it's worth life knowing and, most of all, make it a great day with your dog. Hopefully this never happens and, most of all, make it a great day with your dog. Hopefully this never happens and if it does, you know what to do.