What To Do If Your Dog Goes Missing — Lost Dog Tracking (Episode 212)

Louise and Michelle are joined by Jules, Team Coordinator for the Lost Dogs Tracking Network, Southern Counties. Jules talks through how she went from dog training and truffle-hunting to coordinating a team of scent-tracking dogs across Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and beyond. It's a genuinely fascinating (and at times emotional) listen covering how tracking dogs work, what to do in the first crucial hours after losing a dog, and why a cheap fabric collar in a sandwich bag could be the difference between finding your dog quickly or not at all. Equal parts practical advice and brilliant dog stories.

Timings

00:00 – How Jules got started From dog training and horses, to truffle-hunting dogs, to a "very naughty spaniel" who needed a job — Jules's route into lost dog tracking via Claire Brown, founder of the original West Yorkshire team.

01:18 – Southern Counties coverage Jules is based near Andover, covering Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, parts of Surrey, and sometimes as far as Oxford and Gloucestershire. The network now has 11 teams nationally, with the goal of nobody being more than an hour from a trained tracking dog.

03:34 – How the dogs actually track The difference between scent work (find this specific trained thing) and lost-dog tracking (match this scent, in a constantly changing environment). Jules compares it to medical detection dogs — same underlying skill, different application.

06:23 – The scent article problem Why a single scent item (collar, blanket, bed) is usually easy in a one-dog household — and genuinely difficult with multiple dogs, especially if they've all been on the same walk. Includes the story of a successful track using a Christmas coat that had been in storage for months.

08:22 – The first 48 hours Jules's team don't usually track immediately — most dogs return to the loss point on their own. Key advice: stay at the loss point, post once on social media (not repeatedly), register with DogLost and Drone SAR, and leave a worn item of clothing to draw the dog back in.

10:46 – Owner panic and dogs returning to the car Louise shares her own "anger to panic" experience, and Jules confirms it's extremely common for dogs to return to the loss point or the car — often while panicked owners are out searching elsewhere.

13:04 – How tracking dogs signal they're close A brilliant bit on individual dog "tells": Jules's collie freezes and stares from a distance, her spaniel switches from straight tracking to busy side-to-side hunting