03/09/2026
What a lovely story... how a pug and a chow helped find another lost chow!
Every dog owner's worst nightmare... your dog doesn't come back, gets spooked and lost.
Time ticks, but there's no return.
That's exactly what happened to one owner recently. Six hours later, and with unconfirmed sightings, trailing teams Pree and Aphy made themselves available, despite Aphy having been away from trailing for a few months following an operation and Pree having just completed some other scentwork, so tired.
The missing dog had been spotted down local streets, which is where the teams started, but neither of the experienced trailing dogs showed any interest.
Instead, the dogs took their handlers straight back to the woods where the chow had got lost. Both trailing dogs were tired but absolutely determined the missing dog was there.
It was so overgrown and bad underfoot that the handlers couldn't get in, and the busy A500 is right at the edge of the area, so no one wanted to take risks.
Aphy picked up his scent and literally ran, indicating, pulling, and crying into thick bush. She refused to search any other area, but the handlers couldn't see the lost dog.
Team Pree then took over whilst Aphy rested. Sure enough, Pree went straight back to the thick woodland.
The teams didn't make contact, and the missing dog may have gone further to ground, but the next morning a drone operator started checking, starting with the area where both trailing dogs had been so obsessed.
Sure enough, the drone picked the lost chow up deep in the woodland right where the trailing dogs insisted they had found him!
It's lovely to hear of our trailing teams' success in assisting this rescue and certainly makes us all proud that their training had equipped them so well for this real-world situation.
And could there be a happier ending?
Well done Team Aphy and Team Pree. They look absolutely exhausted!
