Thank you LawnRanger

Don't count yourself short Mickey...both of you are 1 in a Billion! 

What a scare..Glad for the positive outcome. Great friend for sure..

I know that had to be a ruff 30 hours or so for ya. Glad she is back in your good hands.....thanks on behalf of all dog lovers for the assistance of friends in tracking her down.

I USED to have a tracking collar. They go off of cellular towers, NOT GPS. Your phone uses GPS to show you where the cell towers pinged the collar. In order to conserve battery, the collar only pings every so often, up to minutes apart. By the time your phone shows an update, the dog is LONG GONE, unless he/she is lingering around a certain spot. 

All this causes a false sense of security in my opinion. It is better than nothing, but really makes tracking very difficult. Only solution on the market so far is a radio collar that costs like 10 times as much, but has no monthly fees. You also can't leave it on the dog at all times due to battery and the size of the thing.

Glad you found your dog. I have been in the same scenario many times when my dog was young. 

speed51133 said:

I USED to have a tracking collar. They go off of cellular towers, NOT GPS. Your phone uses GPS to show you where the cell towers pinged the collar. In order to conserve battery, the collar only pings every so often, up to minutes apart. By the time your phone shows an update, the dog is LONG GONE, unless he/she is lingering around a certain spot. 

All this causes a false sense of security in my opinion. It is better than nothing, but really makes tracking very difficult. Only solution on the market so far is a radio collar that costs like 10 times as much, but has no monthly fees. You also can't leave it on the dog at all times due to battery and the size of the thing.

Glad you found your dog. I have been in the same scenario many times when my dog was young. 

WOW! What a sad story, but with a happy ending! I think you already know we are dog lovers also. That scenario would have taken a real toll on us!

Glad you had a happy ending, my friend! Can't imagine 30 hours!! Mike's a great guy!

My dog has bolted on me a few times, twice near very busy streets and once at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike! Just jumped out of the car and took off. First time, he stopped to pee so I was able to catch him. Second, a guy walking down the street stopped him (my dog is VERY friendly). The NJTP was a miracle. He ran about 100 yards away and then just turned around and came back. All three times, I thought I'd never see him again. Not alive anyway.

What a nerve racking experience to have your dog out on the run!! Glad you got your baby back. As you know we live on a golf course and our back fence and part of our side fences are wrought iron fences. And we have a Yorkie. When I take him out, I don't let my eyes off him for a second. Mrs. G on the other hand will go out with him and get on the internet and you know what happens then. I've asked her if I could put up chicken wire around the bottom of the fence....should have just done it and not asked. Luckily, we have a good neighborhood and he's usually picked up within 30 minutes and we get a call. Poor guy is around 13 years old, deaf and probably going blind...anyway, glad you got yours back.

Griffin said:

What a nerve racking experience to have your dog out on the run!! Glad you got your baby back. As you know we live on a golf course and our back fence and part of our side fences are wrought iron fences. And we have a Yorkie. When I take him out, I don't let my eyes off him for a second. Mrs. G on the other hand will go out with him and get on the internet and you know what happens then. I've asked her if I could put up chicken wire around the bottom of the fence....should have just done it and not asked. Luckily, we have a good neighborhood and he's usually picked up within 30 minutes and we get a call. Poor guy is around 13 years old, deaf and probably going blind...anyway, glad you got yours back.

Great neighbors make it happen. I am thankful for mine on more than one occasion.

nolaegghead said:

speed51133 said:

I USED to have a tracking collar. They go off of cellular towers, NOT GPS. Your phone uses GPS to show you where the cell towers pinged the collar. In order to conserve battery, the collar only pings every so often, up to minutes apart. By the time your phone shows an update, the dog is LONG GONE, unless he/she is lingering around a certain spot. 

All this causes a false sense of security in my opinion. It is better than nothing, but really makes tracking very difficult. Only solution on the market so far is a radio collar that costs like 10 times as much, but has no monthly fees. You also can't leave it on the dog at all times due to battery and the size of the thing.

Glad you found your dog. I have been in the same scenario many times when my dog was young. 

This tracking system uses GPS and can track in real-time.

https://www.whistle.com/how-whistle-works

I owned the original "whistle" which was called TAGG. I abandoned the technology for the shortcomings.  I just read up on it (the latest whistle GO Explore) and the tech has advanced, but not enough IMO. While it does use GPS, the GPS location is relayed via cell towers on the ATT network. To conserve battery, the location is NOT transmitted in constant, real-time. 

Per PC mag: The most important thing for most owners is how fast you get notified of a pet escaping the premises. Unfortunately, this is one area where Whistle doesn't take top honors. In my tests, it usually took a full 4.5 minutes to get a notification (text and push) that the device had left the safe places zone, which as many pet owners know, is plenty of time for a determined doggo to ditch you. https://www.pcmag.com/review/370302/whistle-go-explore

The previous generation, Whistle 3:
To track your pet, swipe up on the location menu and you'll see a Start Tracking button. The location will update every 90 seconds. Tracking will turn off when it returns home, or within 30 minutes, even if it isn't back, to conserve battery. You must manually tell the app to start tracking again. While the GPS is active, the app will also send notifications every 90 seconds, generically listing the nearest street address even if your pet is in the middle of the woods. This tracked info also disappears in a day.

So, seems like tech is progressing, but the Whistle 1 was worthless. I would be curious to know what gen the OP has. Also, I wasn't quite sure if the tracker separated from the dog or not in this scenario. 

So glad you got her back, that would be heartbreaking to lose her.