I know where you are coming from,hope you get him back and did you get the collar out of the river?People just don't understand the time and money that gets put into having a top notch hunting hound.Where I live in southeast NC,the dog thieves usually carry magnets to kill the collar and then your dog and your tracking collars are gone.I recall a field trial I was running a few deer dogs in and the hunt was over and I was tracking 1 of my hounds,got close it was blowing the attenuator up.I was right on top of him and boom my collar goes dead,collar was brand new-125 bucks-battery was strong but they killed my collar and stole 1 of my best registered walkers and a new johnson tracking collar.