There’s no doubt about it. Although lost dogs are a common occurrence, searching for a lost dog is an extremely trying and stressful experience. Here’s how to prevent that from happening.

1. Put a fence around your yard. This is the most common sense prevention known that’s easy to install. Your iron gate, wood fence, or chain link fence mustn’t contain any gaps or spaces that a dog can squeeze through or crawl under. And it should be too tall for a dog to jump over. It should also be strong enough to withhold the attack of an aggressive male. A female dog in heat will bring out aggression in a male dog up to 100 yards away. If a wooden fence isn’t strong enough to resist the male’s scratching, biting, and pushing, the male will rip a hole right through that fence just so he can mate.
2. Enforce security in a new environment. If your dog will spend a few days at a neighbor’s, relative’s, or friend’s home, be sure that environment is fenced in as well. And be sure that the dog is never taken off the property without a leash. The majority all lost dogs escape through fence openings or improperly secured (or even missing) leashes.
3. Watch the doors and windows! Inside the home, you’ll want to make sure your dog doesn’t bolt outside every time you open the door. (A more tactful dog may wait until you forget that the door is open before quietly making its escape.) Inside the car, a dog may leap out of an opened window while you’re sitting at the stop light, so remember to roll up your car window if you let your dog sit in the passenger’s seat.
4. Train your dog to obey commands. A trained dog is less likely to become a lost dog. That doesn’t mean **all** trained dogs are perfect ‘children’, but training should cause a dog to think twice about leaving his given territory. At least, that’s how the theory goes… The predatory nature of canines can overwhelmed even in the most obedient dogs, and that’s why we recommend that you exercise all of these suggestions at once.