Those who have experienced a hound escape know the feeling all too well. That moment of horror when your hound slips through a gap you thought was too skinny for them to fit through. Or when your quiet-as-a-mouse hound dashes through the front door. It’s a moment pet owners fear.
When this happens, your mind can go into overdrive, panic and confusion setting in as you wonder what to do next.
Ensuring your home is safe and secure to prevent escape is key, but we know that accidents can still happen. If your hound does escape your home or property, take these steps to get your hound home safely.
If you are Fostering With us or Have a Greyhound Rescue Hound on Trial:
- Please contact your Adoption Coordinator as soon as possible. If you are unable to get in touch with your Adoption Coordinator, contact the Greyhound Rescue Kennel Manager. You can refer to your contract paperwork for contact details. Your hound will be wearing a Greyhound Rescue tag and will still be microchipped to us so it’s important we are aware of the situation.
- Once you have made contact with a member of the Greyhound Rescue team, we will chat you through next steps.
- One thing you can immediately do is physically search close to the area where your hound went missing (especially near familiar routes or walking spots). If sighted, do not chase them! They might get spooked and run off even further.
If you Have Finalised Your Hound’s Adoption, Follow These Steps:
- Please contact the Greyhound Rescue Kennel Manager as soon as possible. We will contact you if we are alerted to any sightings.
- You will need to contact local pounds, vets and councils in your area.
- Post an alert on local lost pet Facebook pages and neighbourhood groups. Ask that people contain your hound if possible but never try to chase them.
- Also post an alert on the Greyhound Rescue Support Facebook Group, specifying the area your hound went missing.
- Physically search close to the area where your hound went missing (especially near familiar routes or walking spots).
After 24 Hours Have Passed:
If it has been 24 hours and your hound is still not home, we recommend expanding the search radius. Contact your local pounds again as dogs may have been transferred, and refresh your online posts with updated information, including any sightings or other relevant information.
Microchips can move over time, which means they can be missed. If this happens, your dog will be transferred to the pound. We strongly recommend finding out the details of your local pound ahead of time, so you know exactly who to call should the need ever arise.
Prevention is Best!
- It’s important to keep microchip and ID tag details current for a quick reunion.
- Ensure your hound has a properly fitted martingale collar.
- Train your hound to stay – this is an important one for many reasons!
- Look for any escape routes – check your fences and gates, look for objects against your fence that your hound may be able to use as a step to jump over. If your hound has already escaped, check these afterwards and rectify these to avoid another incident.
- Consider a GPS collar. A tool like Tractive can be attached to a collar, and has live GPS tracking. You can also set up virtual fences and be alerted should your greyhound move outside of this. Air Tags are another option, however though these were designed to track items and not pets and do not have their own inbuilt GPS. That means they rely on nearby Apple devices to send an alert, so if you’re pet has moved somewhere quiet or unpopulated, you might not be notified.
What to do When Your Hound is Back Safely
When your hound returns home, give them time to decompress. They are likely to be highly stressed. You can find an article on what decompression is and why it’s important here.