Anyone have a good or bad experience using one of these on a sit?
Although we have had the nightmare of unintentionally and temporarily losing a dog on a walk, our current house sit is the first experience we have had with a dog that is expected to go walkabouts with selective recall.
The house owner told me to download the app to my phone and gave me a quick introduction how to use it in conjunction with the tracker on the collar.
So off to the woods for our first walk and sure enough, after a few minutes, she (o yung black lab) veers off into the undergrowth and no response to my calls. Out with the phone and I can track her route over the next few minutes. As it turns out she knew where to return to and since then everyday I have got more relaxed about her coming back and not having to chase after her even if she is gone for say 10 minutes.
It is incredible to see the distance she can cover in a short while and the zig zagging she does.
So my overall impression is a good one but we have a week to go !
After minding a cat with one who stayedn out longer than predicted, keep an eye on the battery and charge at every opportunity. The cat we were minding wandered further and longer than the owner predicted and came back really late (cat flap then locked him in til the next morning) I was up at 4am trying to recharge it before he was allowed out at 6. (Major tantrums if he couldn’t get out)Not a full charge and then he slipped the collar which we then couldn’t find as it went flat!!!
I wouldn’t accept a sit where I knew the pet was an escapee. I wouldn’t want to try to find it or to feel bad if it was say hit by a car. And that’s the case even if the HO wouldn’t blame me.
In our case it got into a fight with a squirrel and got bit(suspected not confirmed). Ended up with an infected paw. Hid in a house half a mile on the other side of the village (where for some reason it escaped o every day) and we had to go and retrieve it at 4 in the morning on the last day of the sit. We never did get a review for that sit. Yes. Outside cats, while most are easy, can present challenges!
Argh. That’s stressful.
I had a bit of stress with an outdoor/indoor cat that was chased out of the house by a large puppy. The cat ran off during the dog’s last pee break of the night and stayed out. I kept waking every couple of hours to call and see whether she’d return and she didn’t until the next morning. For that reason and others, I’m not sitting another puppy.
it happened to us. We were warned he’d eventually run off (he didn’t have a tracker). For 2 months and a half, he never escaped. Then with 2 weeks to go to the sit, he disappears…one second he’s there, the other, he’s gone and not replying to my calls.
Long story short, he went back home and on the way home (in a small village), a neighbour picked him up and called the owners (that were 9h time difference away, but aware it was a possibility) while I was still calling his name in the orchard.
Bottom line: best sit ever, miss that dog like crazy, but next time, I’d put a tracker on him (that I’d get myself) simply for my own peace of mind.