Hi Everyone,
First time post here, and I would just like to thank everyone for the wealth of information for a newbie. I have just gotten my first dog since moving out of home a 5 month old golden retriever that I got at 9 weeks.
My question is can you help stop a dog getting lost or even under extreme stress will they get lost? I have been walking Dex around my local area in the hope of getting him to know his way home, when we walk near my home he starts getting excited and leads the way in. He seems to now know the area and when he is a little bit older I will go on longer walks around my whole area. I'm doing this in the hope that if anyone ever leaves the gate open or thunder storm, fireworks etc and he escaped he would have the best chance possible of getting home.
Do dogs that get walked often in their local area still get lost, and does anyone have any tips on helping him know his way home. I only thought this as some people may not be able to walk their dog around their local area and maybe drive their dog to dog parks, and if the dog escaped in a frenzy and ran 1km he wouldn't have a clue were he is ad it doesn't know the area.
Wild dogs always seem to be able to find their way back to their den have we gotten rid of this instinct.