A pooch stolen 18 months ago has been reunited with her family thanks to dogged detective work by the woman who found her 70 miles from home.
Amazed owner Francis Briley, who had given up hope of seeing the English springer spaniel again, said: “We’re all overjoyed.”
Daisy the dog was nabbed from her home in the summer of 2020, probably to breed at a puppy farm.
She was found abandoned last month by the woman who then took her to a vet.
Tracking the dog’s owners was very difficult as her microchip details had not been registered.
Daisy spent seven nights in kennels and would have been rehomed if not for the woman picking up a scent. She trawled through the Dog Lost website in search of her owners, while the hound was handed over to the Public Protection Partnership animal warden team.
Daisy’s fur had been clipped in what was probably an attempt to conceal her identity, making the search more difficult. Fortunately, she had distinctive markings and colouring which matched a post on the Dog Lost site about a spaniel that had been stolen near Ashford, Kent, in 2020.
Daisy, who was found in Bracknell, Berks, was reunited with her owner after animal wardens were able to confirm her identity with the help of Kent police.
Francis said: “I can’t believe I have her back. I’m so grateful to the lady who found her and to the animal warden team for bringing us back together again.”
He added the microchip details were not registered because the paperwork had been lost in a fire when she was a puppy and the issue then went out of his head.
Daisy was found in decent health. She had recently had a litter, suggesting she was stolen to breed at a puppy farm.
The animal wardens said it is “rare” to locate an owner if the dog’s microchip has not been registered. They added Daisy was “very close to being rehomed”.
