A sheepdog who went missing for nearly three weeks has been reunited with her family – after being sniffed out by her own clever mum.
Two-year-old Border Collie Chloe had been home with the Allison family for less than 24 hours when she managed to escape from a six-foot-high enclosure on their farm.
They immediately launched a desperate rescue effort, spending hours searching nearby countryside and calling in a specialist canine search team, Team Dogs reports.
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Three weeks later it seemed like all hope was lost – until Chloe’s mum Seren arrived on the scene to help.
Seren was deployed in an area of woodland where Chloe had recently been spotted and immediately picked up a scent.
Incredibly, within minutes, the older dog had discovered where her pup was and ushered her safely back to the family.
Mum-of-three Marcelle, 38, said: “It was an incredibly emotional moment. Chloe had been missing for so long and we had spent so much time and effort looking for her during that time.
“To finally have her back was a huge relief and a very happy moment.
“Everyone who was there burst into tears, even people who didn’t know her and had just volunteered to help.”
She added: “Having Seren come in to try and help was the last roll of the dice really. We had tried absolutely everything before that without having any luck, so this was a bit of a desperate effort. But it ended up working, I still can’t really believe it.”
Marcelle and her family, husband Chris, 38, their daughters Misha, 12, and Milan, 10, and son Kirsten, eight, moved to Knutsford from South Africa three years ago.
They collected Chloe from her previous owners in Wales and although Marcelle says she was a “little nervous” that evening she generally seemed fine.
The next morning Chloe, along with the family’s seven other pups, was inside a large enclosure with a six-foot-high fence before she suddenly disappeared.
(Image: SWNS)
Hairdresser Marcelle said: “One minute she was in there and the next she was gone. None of our other dogs has ever even come close to getting out of that enclosure, I have no idea how Chloe managed it.
“We’re not sure why she did it, a lot of planes go over our farm so perhaps she got scared.”
They were also assisted by a non-profit organisation called the Lost Dog Capture Team; a team of volunteers who try to help reunite lost dogs with their owners.
Hundreds of ‘missing’ posters were plastered in the area while a drone was sent into the air to survey the area from above in hopes of a sighting.
After being missing for around two weeks, Chloe was finally spotted by a member of the public in a field six miles from home, although she was too scared to approach anyone.
The search team tried to lure Chloe out with food but anytime she caught sight of a person she would scurry away.
On the 18th day, they were so desperate that Marcelle called Chloe’s previous owner, as she thought her voice might help draw her from the woodland.
(Image: Simon Gallaway/SWNS)
However, the owner went one better and brought Chloe’s mum Seren to the scene.
Marcelle said: “When Chloe saw her mum she ran straight to her, it was incredible.”
Chloe is now happy and healthy at home again.
Marcelle said: “She was very nervous after getting her back initially, but she is getting better and better. She can even go out for a run off the lead now.”
