Sophie - lost and found

Tech and neighbours combine to bring our dog home

It was like any other morning. With my wife Diane away at her job in Cambridge I came downstairs at 6:45, took my first set of Parkinson’s pills for the day, and did a few domestic tasks before preparing to take the dog out. 

Sophie, our Romanian rescue dog, arrived in our home in December 2022 and retreated behind our sofa for months on end, her extreme shyness turning her into a social media sensation with thousands following the every move of #SophieFromRomania.   

It was only at the end of February that we took her on her first walk, but now we’ve settled into a routine of two outings a day. We are, however, extremely cautious, putting her in a harness and clipping on leads to that and her collar before venturing out. It is known that Romanian rescue dogs are prone to escaping from their owners, although so far she has seemed scared of the outside world rather than eager to explore it.

Sophie, with her two leads

This morning she seemed eager to get out but before slipping the harness on I wanted to put the bins out for today’s collection and bring in the papers. I opened the front door and registered that the child gate we have installed in the porch for extra dog security was open, as was the front gate onto the pavement. Suddenly out of nowhere Sophie was past me, through the gate and away. 

I stumbled out after her shouting “Sophie! Sophie! Sophie!” She looked back briefly over her shoulder but kept striding purposefully on, disappearing round the corner onto the tree-lined avenue which leads towards the park which is the usual destination for our morning walk. 

I stood there rooted to the spot in terror. This is not a street savvy dog acquainted with the Highway Code - it seemed to me all too likely that she would plunge across a busy road as the rush hour got underway and come to harm, or simply disappear and never be found. 

A neighbour and dog owner who I only know to nod to was just getting into her car and noticed my cries of anguish. She told me to jump into the passenger seat and we would go in serach of the dog. By now I had spoken to Diane and we were both trying to track Sophie via the Apple AirTag on her collar.

These liitle gadgets send out a Bluetooth signal that can be detected by any nearby Apple device which then communicates with the iCloud - then when the AirTag’s owner opens their “Find My” app on their device they can see its location. But quickly I discovered the flaw in the system - it’s not providing real-time tracking in the way a GPS tracker would. At first, Sophie was shown at home, then a few minutes later up at the top of the tree-lined avenue 400 metres away, presumably having come in range of an iPhone in the pocket of a commuter heading for the nearby station.

By the time we got there a minute later, there was no sign of her, and we drove on to the park another 400 metres away, presuming she had continued on our regular walk. But as we peered through the early morning fog, we drew a blank again. We retraced our steps to the location the AirTag still showed for Sophie and stopped a couple of passers-by who were sympathetic but had not seen a dog.

Then the Ring doorbell app on my phone chirped, signalling someone was at the door - I ignored it, assuming it was a delivery. But when I looked at the “Find my” app again, Sophie’s location had changed - to our house. Just then Diane rang - she had clicked when the Ring app sounded and had seen one of our neighbours standing in front of the camera. Behind her, stood Sophie.

As we raced back to our street, I got an alert from our street’s WhatsApp group. A neighbour had written: “Rory Sophia on loose….urgent.” I arrived home to find a gaggle of people on the street in front of our house while Sophie stood inside the gate, barking at them. The relief was overwhelming - I thanked evverybody and went indoors to fry some sausages for me and the dog.

Back home, safe and sound

So what is my conclusion after this frightening episode? That when it comes to finding a lost pet, some gadgets are more useful than others. An AirTag might show you the direction your pet is heading but will always be out of date - the devices, not cheap at £35 each, are fine for keeping track of your luggage, but I’m now wondering about a GPS collar for Sophie. What came up trumps was our Ring doorbell and WhatsApp, without which I might have spent hours scouring the streets of Ealing without success.

But the real lesson is that the best help in these circumstances is kind neighbours. Considering she did not leave the house for the first 14 months of her 16 months wuth us, Sophie has obviously become a well-loved character on our street. And maybe the fact that she managed to find her own way home after her adventure shows that our frightened Romanian dog finally feels safe with us.