I have a 3 year old German Shepard and he ran off 4 days ago and havent seen him since. How ? We have a routine, he stays in the house, when its playtime/pottytime I let him out and he will run the house and mark his ground while I get my shoes on. I proceed to go out and let him in his yard, 2.5 acres of fenced yard. Problem is 4 days ago going through this process I go out and no Jagger...I have a certain yell/call that he ALWAYS comes to and nothing. We live in a small community in the country so its mostly woods with houses here and their. None of the neighbors have seen him and hes not on the side of the road anywhere and the pound doesnt have him. Im really concerned now, wondering why he took off and if he is alive.

He done this one other time about a year ago but was only gone for about 6 hours. How long can he go without water/food ?

He can go about 3 days without food and not be seriously hurting.

I wish you the best of luck. It's awful to loose a dog!

Hopefully he'll turn up home soon!

You let the dog out but not in his fenced yard?

He's done this before and your still repeated the routing?

I do hope he comes back and I do hope you adjust your routine to prevent it from happening again.

You can never tell when a high level distraction draws him away from the property.

It could be a rabbit, a deer, a female dog in heat, a coyote in heat, someone sees a "loose" dog and calls him into their car, many reasons for him taking off.

Without water?
Depending on the temperatures he could become immobile within 36 hours dogs are resourceful, lack of water is the least of your worries Imo.
He is likely very very hungry by now if he hasn't eaten, still alive though.

So he ran off in the moments it took you to put on your shoes?
Did you figure out how he escaped last time?
If he did run off in a few moments with your back turned, it was likely to follow something such as Bob suggested.
Hope you find him.

not personally but we have our annual town ritual fireworks, at same day same time every year and same dogs bolt. nearly all of them get found. of late the vast majority wind up at the vets office and get a micro-chip scan and problem solved. I do hope yr dog is micro-chipped. the rest get picked up crossing roads or just walking into someone's house and making themselves at home. people put up flyers/facebook/sunday classifieds.

the working dogs are all driven around the various farm-houses as young dogs so they can make their way back their to somewhere if they get split up from the pack.

dogs I must assume have an incredible sense of direction, my personal dogs will always make their way back to where the vehicle was last parked if they get split up from the pack in strange country, no matter if I leave and go back next day they will be waiting right there, only one made a trek back home cross country. the terrain and vegetation the dog went thru amidst wild dogs and 10-80 poison was off the scale. they are good survivors, you need flyers and pics with yr contact details posted everywhere as well.

good luck.

question : is this dog neutered or intact ?

Most lost dogs are found within a 2 mi radius of where they were lost - concentrate your searches there and drop familiar items in places where he may come across them. 4 days is a long time, I hope he's home soon.

six days now . . . I hope this has a good ending and the dog has a good story to tell .

I also want to mention that I have seen dogs that were picked up and then dumped in other counties.. so ensure that you're checking the adjacent county shelters just in case. (one dog almost went to rescue before her owner 2 counties away found she was in the shelter 4 weeks later)

Is the dog micro chipped?

That would be a huge help if he shows up in a pound somewhere.