My friend's dog is a typical Golden Retriever and goes off on a walk, really enjoying herself. It's a, "Thanks for the lift. I'll see you later," kind of situation. I know, far from ideal but you have to understand Goldens to love them! They can try try patience of saints.  This dog has recently been separated from her owners on a walk and , fortunately, the finder rang the number on her disc. Do any of you have any experience of GPS devices for collars? Would you recommend one? What make is good? The walks are often on the New Forest with typical terrain of trees and gorse bushes which she runs straight through. I wonder if a tracker would work in cover. Any tips would be appreciated before her owners go further as they are very expensive devices.

Do any of you have any experience of GPS devices for collars?

Would you recommend one?

GPS will not solve the problem because the problem is the dog in question has had insufficient foundation obedience training, so whats the point of buying a gps to watch the recall refusing dog disappear out of range of the gps signal, maybe ask the friend concerned what the point is!?

It is NOT typical of a golden retriever to ignore its handler, it is typical of all & any dog to ignore their handler if the handler has not trained it an effective recall with strong distractions and leaned to communicate with the dog at all times excluding a physical aggression incident.

As regards recovering a lost, out of sight dog & gps, yes thats been possible up to a range of 12 miles for around 3 years now but the same principle applies ie not without training.
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I agree with you there Hethpaw. I've had Goldens for 30 years and only had one that tended to do vanishing acts if she smelt deer, consequently she was kept on the lead in woodland or other areas where deer might be.
A good recall is something that has to be worked on from the moment the puppy comes home to you or even before if the breeder is clued up on a few simple techniques. It would be far better to try and instil a recall into the dog before there is a nasty accident which GPS of any description is not going to save him from

You can get one on a trial basis to see what you think. If there is no GPS reception then you won't know where these is until it comes back into it which could be a pain if it looses it in the NF

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Lisa Stewart Phillips says: Dog needs to be on a long line and harness and recall needs worked on. I highly recommend Pippa Mattinson's book 'Total Recall'

Dawn Munnings says: Unacceptable. The dog could be run over, stolen, attacked. Back on a lead until recall has improved.

I am assuming she only does this occasionally and normally is not far away. Even the best behaved dog can roam a little to far and maybe get lost. Pepsi got lost once at ninesprings many years ago she lagged behind a little and then went to look for us in the wrong direction. The valley makes whistles and calls sound like they are coming from another direction and it confused her. luckily she was well known and another dog walker captured her for us. Its never 100% that we can say our dogs would never get lost.  Its got to be worth a go if it gives peace of mind.

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Claire Leavy says: If they dont have a good recall they dont go off lead. Its that simple!

Niamh Callaghan says: Keep the dog on lead. Find a positive reinforcement reputable trainer and work on the recall until it has improved significantly. It's not safe to have a dog lose like that.

Kathryn Perry says: A long long time ago we used to meet a Goldie on the Brocton Coppice carpark ( Cannock Chase). He was always on his own and I assumed belonged to one of the houses bordering that part of the Chase. He was usually no bother but on this occasion he decided he was going to follow us ( suspect one of our girls was heading for a season?) . Anyway we carried on walking and so did he. I began to think we would take him away from his normal territory and he could become lost so put him on a lead. Around 3 hrs later we arrived back at our car, released him and he headed off - presumably to his home. We saw him many times after that ( still alone) but he never followed us again. I guess we just walked too far! Lol smile emoticon. But I agree with the others - no recall = no freedom

Emma Warrington says: It's always someone else's fault. 'It's the breed/weather/other dog/rabbits.'. No. It's irresponsible to let a dog off with poor recall. Yes, accidents happen, but knowing your dog will leg it as soon as the lead is dropped off is just asking for trouble and no accident.

Catherine Lewis says: A lead is cheaper and will prevent the dog being a nuisance to other walkers. If the dog is out of the owner's sight she is not under control!

Laura Norkett Lui says: Our dogs have excellent recall but I still worry they could get spooked and run off. I bought them dog track. It is a dog tag that has a QR code on it and when tapped or scanned it gives the owners contact details and alerts the owner their dog has been found. Dead cheap too.

Stephanie Presdee says: also check the area for Alabama rot cases, I would be finding new walks for my dogs. http://newforest.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=14110

> My friend's dog is a typical Golden Retriever and goes off on a walk, really enjoying herself. It's a, "Thanks for the lift. I'll see you later," kind of situation. I know, far from ideal but you have to understand Goldens to love them!

We all have responsibility for our dogs actions when out, & recall can never be relied on 100%. As an owner of two hounds know when walking them off lead it has to be somewhere safe, to constantly monitor what they're up to, so can distract, intercept their natural instinct to chase or disappear into the horizon.

Anywhere near farm stock, roads or grazing wildlife they're on lead.

The New Forrest is a large area of open pasture, crisscrossed with roads, accidents with ponies & stock has increased dramatically in recent years & have watched from the car as a group of ponies were harried by an out of control dog. Owners that refuse any responsibility for their actions spoil it for everyone else, a GPS is of no help to others using or living in the area, public areas are not there for individuals but for all, if a dog is known to be unresponsive, keep it on lead.

My friends dog is a typical Golden Retriever..........

I disagree that this is typical. The ones I know all stay close by on a walk and constantly check you are there. Having said that, common sense says you should anticipate problems and take action to avoid it. Training is essential, but Goldens like to know where they stand and most will learn quickly. I think it'll be interesting to see how our little bloke will get on at puppy class next week and whether he's any different to the girls.

I've not had any experience of males GR's as all mine were female. A friend has a litter brother of my dog and I've noticed he is inclined to go further away then Isla is happy with, but that could be due to the way he has been trained rather then his sex.
I taught Isla to not go far from us when off lead by calling 'wait' when she got further ahead then I felt was sensible, she had learned that 'wait' meant stop or stand/sit still in other parts of her training, so using that word was easy for to understand what I wanted her to do. Sometimes I would keep her waiting whilst I walked up to her, then released, or released her as I approached, or made her sit. Once she had got that, I introduced a peep on the whistle and followed that up with a raised hand if I wanted her to sit. The consequence of all this is I have a dog that doesn't go far from us, checks in regularly, automatically stops and waits for us especially at footpath crossroads and stops instantly on a peep from the whistle. A lot of working on when she was younger, but worth the effort.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/tracking-collars.html

A friend had one of these on his Black and Tan.  Don't know which collar.  He used his dogs for coon hunting so, unlike hunting over a GR, the dogs are meant to run for hours and acres.  The collar did help him get his dog back when she ventured, or was lured, into a farmer's barn and the farmer tried to keep her.  You see the price of these things, you could probably enroll in a good recall course and teach your dog to stay closer for less money.  ;)  Sorry, your friend could.

Thanks to Sue, Aileen and Jetstone who actually tried to answer my question. To the other "experts," if I had wanted that type of advice on recalls, I would have asked for it. All my own dogs have passed their Gold Good Citizens tests (even the very fast Cavalier) but that does not guarantee a recall on the forest and I do expect my dogs to enjoy their walks, be dogs and learn to think for themselves. The one who would possibly benefit from a tracker is NOT MINE.

"that does not guarantee a recall on the forest" ......... if you can't get a recall then the dog should not be off the lead as he/she is not under control, as other posters have pointed out. Very irresponsible to allow the dog to wander/stray out of sight (and even in sight) as potentially the dog could do anything/anything could happen to him/her and the owner is in no position to intervene or see what has happened.

"I do expect my dogs to enjoy their walks, be dogs and learn to think for themselves." My dogs enjoy their exercise time too but, at the end of the day, I'm in charge and that means I don't put them in a position where they might make the wrong decision, which might just have fatal consequences.

>I disagree that this is typical.

Same here - Goldens are gundogs so are bred to be responsive to their owners and follow commands. My friend has one who will come to a whistle from a very long way away!