January 29, 2014

Smudge was a Cocker Spaniel that decided to venture off on a walk not long before getting back to the car to go home. He was seen disappearing off through the woods and out to a field but there was no sign of him. There was concern that he was unwell and therefore the owners were anxious to find him as soon as they could and in particular because the weather was not good.

We were contacted to see if we could help as soon as possible.  I was in the process of packing the van to venture north to Edinburgh the next day to help track a beagle that had now been missing some time but none the less decided that providing I was back that night I could go and help with Smudge as he had been spotted dangerously close to a very fast and busy road.

I arrived in the notorious rush hour and went with the owner to try to track Smudge. As usual we went near to the place where this last sighting was and Tiga quickly picked up the scent but it was a very difficult situation as Tiga wanted to track along this busy road and at times in the road which took us a long time to do as we were constantly waiting for the cars to go by.

Tiga eventually took us off this road and up a drive of a huge house but soon turned back and eventually continued back to the busy road. It was not easy as there was a huge amount of surface water but undaunted Tiga worked very hard and took us back across the road to an unused pub where we spent some time in the car park and with the consent of the new owners in his back garden before moving off again along the road and then back across down a lane only to come back along a disused railway and to the woods where Smudge first went missing. We again crossed the road and took a footpath to the side of the pub and out onto some fields where we heard a dog barking and then spotted some eyes. It was now very late and in the dark it was impossible to see what the eyes were and we no longer heard the barking. We were now close to our car and decided to call it a night.

I suggested to the owner that she come back to the pub just before first light as it seemed feasible that Smudge could have found shelter in the back garden and if he had we did not want to frighten him off in the dark being so close to the road.

The owner did just this and was rewarded with hearing Smudge howl and quickly reunited. Albeit with a very sore pad.

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