Beardies can be amazing escape artists. You can be innocently walking out a door ---
especially if the door is the one that you use to take your Beardie out for
walks or a ride --- and suddenly you find your Beardie beside you when you
could swear that the Beardie was in the back yard. So be careful when exiting or entering your
home or yard. Also be sure to warn any
workmen or others who might be opening any doors about sneaky dogs.
One preventative for this escape behavior is to make sure
both you and your Beardie have gone through at least some basic dog
training. Your Beardie will really
enjoy the opportunity to be working with you, and you will almost certainly
learn things about dog behavior that you didn’t know before taking the
training. Having a good re-call for your
dog is one of the most important things you or your dog could possess.
Another preventative step is to be sure your dog is
microchipped. Although it was once
relatively rare, nowadays almost every vet and animal shelter will routinely check
dogs they pick up for a chip. If your
dog should take off for parts unknown (some Beardies really like to check out
their surrounding areas, several blocks in all directions), having a chip in
place is one way to help return a dog.
Having a good collar with an identity tag is another step to take, but a
collar is not as durable or as permanent as a chip.