Lilly is running out of lives

I swear - one of these days this dog is going to give me a heart attack.

Some background..... She is an Italian Greyhound that can run at 35 MPH. She's a sight/prey hound, so when she sees something she RUNS for it and doesn't look back - he recall skills need serious work. I take her on a walk every afternoon - we have 2 different routes we go on and rarely deviate from them.

In March, our home was badly damaged by the srotm we got on 3/13 - our roof blew off and we flooded from the attic down to the living room. While DH and I were outside surveying the damage the day after everything calmed down, Lilly escaped. She NEVER EVER goes down the stairs near our side door, so I opened it without even giving it a thought. She bolted out the door with a quick glance back at me and then trotted on her merry way. I yelled for DH and he started running after her - thank goodness she followed one of our routes and that there were many people out in the neighborhood (picking up our roof shingles off their lawns ) that kept tabs on her - DH was running, but he was no match for her. The only reason he was actually able to catch up to her is because she stopped to "mark" almost every 10 feet. I had hopped in the car and followed the path that we usually take and found both DH and WonderPup.

The other day, I had a VERY long day at work and had asked a friend who lives around the corner to take Lilly out in the afternoon, as I would have been gone from the house for close to 14 hours (DH travels and wasn't home). She did and everythng was fine until they went to go back inthe house - Lilly saw a squirrel on the lawn and bolted once again. It wouldn't have been so bad, but my friend clipped her leash to her tags and not her actual collar (
) and she got away again. This time, she followed the other route that we go on. My friend has her 4 year old twins with her and didn't know what to do - chase Lilly, stay with the twins, get in her car with the kids and drive looking for the dog..... she saw a random woman walkig a baby in a stroller and asked her to watch the twins while she ran after Lilly. Lilly ran about a mile and then stopped to sniff another dog and that dogs owner grabbed her by the collar (with no tags, as they were attached to the leash )

We live one street in from Peninsula Blvd and I thank my lucky stars that Lilly has a touch of OCD and followed the same path as we do when we go walking. Had she made a wrong turn, she would surely have gotten hit by a car or truck on Peninsula.

Really, I don't know if we'll be this lucky again if she gets out. I'm still shocked that we were able to get her back both times without injury or worse!

Message edited 9/23/2010 1:40:42 PM.

Re: Lilly is running out of lives

First off, Lily's a slow poke. Only 35mph!!! Please.

However, I've been through the same anxiety. Sara is our runner. All I can is thank goodness they aren't limited to 9 lives like cats! The problem with Sara is...she takes a different path each time she excapes. First time she escaped from our house on LI, my MIL didn't shut the garage door and she got out somehow. I rushed home from work because I worked close and I found her on a main road. I stopped the car and said "Sara want to go for a ride" and she got all excited and jumped right in my car. That's our saving grace....the word "ride". She loves car rides.

She's gotten out through our back gate 2x. It wasn't self closing (has since been fixed). The first time my MIL was home and saw her run across the front of the house after she let her out the back. We're on a dead end and thank goodness the dead end side has a fence so she can't go that way. So, she goes left. At the end of our block, the first time, she turned right. Luckily she's very friendly and there were some constructions workers working on a house and she stopped to get petted.

Second time, I let her out back and she wasn't there when I went to get her in. Thank goodness Hailey didn't follow her lead. She was still sunning herself in the back. I was a wreck. I didn't know how long she was gone or where she was. My son was napping so I left him there and went out in the car looking for her. I called my sister to come over to stay with my son. I was searching frantically for her and went back home to check in when I see someone driving down the block with Sara in the front seat! Sara went straight that time and was about a mile away.

Then, the last time....our front door didn't close and I was downstairs with the kids. My neighbor knocked on the door to tell me that he was looking out his window and saw Sara escape. He tried to get her but, 45mph is a little fast for him. So, I asked him to watch the kids and off I went. DH was on his way home and the neighbor told him what had happened. Just then, someone called and Sara, this time, had turned right and was on the next block over.

We live close to the SS and I'm always so worried she'll find her way to it.

There were also several times when we lived in St. Louis that she escaped. It's awful but every time we think we fix her escape route, she finds another.

The worst though had to be the morning I was bringing my son home from the hospital. My FIL was visiting and fixing our bathroom. He was in and out of the front door doing work and he let both dogs out. I got the call in the hospital for DH to come home asap because the dogs were missing and they couldn't find them. I was devastated and felt so helpless because I was in the hospital. Luckily, they were found safe and sound.

It's so very, very hard with sighthounds. They see something and nothing will stop them. I don't know what to say to help. Like I mentioned, with Sara, the word "ride" will get her to stop in her path. Maybe you can work on something like that. Does she love treats or something??

Re: Lilly is running out of lives

oh boy thank goodness someone picked her up!

Just reading this story gave me a heartattack

Re: Lilly is running out of lives

TG she is ok! Is she very food orientated? I found the only chance I have of getting Katie is to walk say "Do you want a treat?" and casually walk back in the house. If there is "prey" involved it doesn't work. I took a nose dive into my neighbors bushes one time after she saw a cat, the leash was still on.