Molly

[DaveS]

Molly's Journey

I realize this topic is covered elsewhere on this site, but the posts are several years old  and I doubt that anyone is currently keeping track of them.  So I'll post this here.

Molly is a female two year old GH who came from Ireland.  Apparently there is a surplus of hounds up for adoption there and a shortage of folks to adopt them.  The opposite situation occurs here.  So the local rescue group here in the Raleigh-Durham worked with a group in Ireland to have 12 dogs shipped over to the US.  A rescue group in Pennsylvania took five and seven came to NC.  The pups were shipped from Dublin to Washington Dulles airport and several volunteers went up to DC and brought the pups home.

Molly was taken to her home on Monday night, January 27.  Two days later she slipped past her owner and bolted out of the house.

A search started immediately, mostly by members of the local rescue group.  Molly was spotted a couple of times over the next few days but she's a shy dog and ran from anyone who approached her.  I'm sure the ten hour flight and five hour car trip didn’t help her feel comfortable.

She was lost is a suburban area that covers several square miles.  Mostly individual homes on wooded lots with numerous brushy creek bottoms behind the houses.  Visibility is limited.

The search went on for over a week with numerous sightings that caused us to quickly move from one location to another.  We plastered the area with posters and talked to residents.  One of the local TV stations did a news story about the search and a lost dog tracker was hired.  The tracker used her search dog and followed the locations of some of the sightings.  Baited traps were set out without success.  The town's animal control agency and the police joined the search and a drone was sent up for a better view of the area. The couple who lost her began grilling hamburgers on their deck to send out a signal of food in the hope that it would attract her.  But no Molly.

On the ninth day, Molly came home.  Surprisingly, she went into the fenced backyard of the same house she had escaped from.  The gate was shut behind her and she dove under the deck.  The owner's other grey went under and brought her out.  What a relief.  Today, Molly is a well adjusted dog and settled in with her family.

In looking back at the lost dog posts, there isn't much to add to what's already there.  The only thing I could possibly add is to use a GPS collar on all greys.  AKC markets one for about $50 and they are invaluable in locating a dog.

[Time4ANap]

Glad to hear that Molly found her way back home. Awesome that she found her way to the same back yard. 

Just a note of caution to check reviews thoroughly before buying a GPS collar.  Many of us here had TAGG when it first came out and although it had it's limitations, the company was responsive and responded to issues with constant updates and fixes.  They were then acquired by Whistle who not only ruined Tagg, but continued to flood the market with their inferior products, making promises of features that they never delivered. Many of us were burned by Whistle, some with multiple dogs who owned multiple collars amounting toa fair amount of money at the time. So - really check reviews and test the heck out of it before the return period expires to make sure the collar works and you have the features that you paid for. 

[macoduck]

I followed Molly's escape story on Facebook. Triangle Greyhound Society is a good group. They understand the differences in greyhounds and galgos. Adopters still need to be vigilant since escapes can happen in the blink of an eye.

What scares me is other greyhound adoption groups - and yes, I have a specific one in mind that I won't out - who want to bring in galgos too. I fear that lack of instruction about the breed, combined with the novelty of wanting something different (breed-wise), will lead to escapes, especially those with only 4 ft fences.

[DaveS]

I can't comment about the quality of GPS collars but I meant that SOME type of tracking system would be a great asset for locating lost dogs.  As for for fence height, I don't know what is needed.  Our two greys have never shone any inclination to go over our four-foot fence, even when going after a squirrel that eludes them by going through or over it.  I've been involved with the local greyhound group for a year or more and haven't heard of any grey going over a fence of four feet.  But I guess it's possible.

We have a bunch more hounds coming in from Ireland next week.  This time they are flying directly to Raleigh so the added five hour car ride won't be necessary.  You can bet that extra care will be taken to prevent another Molly chronicle.

Edited March 5, 2020 by DaveS

[Time4ANap]

2 hours ago, DaveS said:

I can't comment about the quality of GPS collars but I meant that SOME type of tracking system would be a great asset for locating lost dogs.  As for for fence height, I don't know what is needed.  Our two greys have never shone any inclination to go over our four-foot fence, even when going after a squirrel that eludes them by going through or over it.  I've been involved with the local greyhound group for a year or more and haven't heard of any grey going over a fence of four feet.  But I guess it's possible.

We have a bunch more hounds coming in from Ireland next week.  This time they are flying directly to Raleigh so the added five hour car ride won't be necessary.  You can bet that extra care will be taken to prevent another Molly chronicle.

As far as the GPS collars, we initially purchased ours when we moved from IL to AZ.  We wanted it on Rocket during the move.  One of the things we learned at the time was that there were lots of dead zones with no service because they are essentially Cellular collars with GPS, especially the farther north and west you went in the US. I haven't kept up with the tech changes in them as we no longer use one, but for any newly adopted hound as you said, SOME type of tracker is a plus. Which one will depend on how good the chosen collar works in your area and which technology it is using to track the signal. The experience of many here is why I wanted to make sure that anyone considering a particular model  knows to do extensive research before buying, and extensive testing in the areas where you will be using it before it gives you a false sense of security. 

Good luck with the incoming new hounds. 

[macoduck]

Charlotte E-P heads TGS. I took in a senior return from her after the owner went into assisted living. Yes, 6 ft fences are mandatory with galgos. We only had a 4 ft chain link fence with our greyhounds so I never considered a galgo, fearing that they would escape. I know several folks with galgos and 6 -8 ft fences who also added a "coyote roller" bar all along the top of the fence as an added layer of protection to keep them contained.
After putting up a 6 ft wood fence I got 2 podencos from Spain. Those 2 are short and don't jump but many of the taller podencos could easily scale a 4 ft fence.

[racindog]

18 hours ago, Time4ANap said:

Glad to hear that Molly found her way back home. Awesome that she found her way to the same back yard. 

Just a note of caution to check reviews thoroughly before buying a GPS collar.  Many of us here had TAGG when it first came out and although it had it's limitations, the company was responsive and responded to issues with constant updates and fixes.  They were then acquired by Whistle who not only ruined Tagg, but continued to flood the market with their inferior products, making promises of features that they never delivered. Many of us were burned by Whistle, some with multiple dogs who owned multiple collars amounting toa fair amount of money at the time. So - really check reviews and test the heck out of it before the return period expires to make sure the collar works and you have the features that you paid for. 

I definitely wanted to 2nd your warning about the GPS collars.  I too was burnt by Whistle after they destroyed Tagg. And I was also burnt by the AKC version which is also junk.  They were never able to even provide me a single collar that actually did what it was supposed to do and finally just told me that they couldn't! I don't know of a single reliable collar now. And I spent hundreds on them before so its not like I was knowingly buying junk.  The AKC one actually admitted to me that they could not give me one that would function as it was supposed to! I gave up finding one. There is a 'Planet Smartcollar'  page on FB that has soem info.

[DaveS]

A couple of TV broadcasts during and after Molly's grand adventure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M1QKhvLdj8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8cu2qXDYE