The little dog lost on Cave Hill for three nights while on a family holidays from Scotland, is making her way home with her family.
Coco, the 11-month-old spaniel, had bolted after being spooked by an approaching dog, while on a walk on December 20 and despite extensive searches, she could not be found.
With the family's ferry back home to Scotland booked for Friday, December 23, mum Mel Johnston stayed behind in Belfast while her husband and daughters, Nadie, 11, Allie, eight, and seven-year-old Robyn, set out on their reluctant journey home to Aberdeenshire.
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Mel, 42, said: "We couldn't leave Coco here, and the girls agreed that they would face me staying in Belfast to keep searching while they went home with their dad. It was a very tearful farewell but we had do it - one of the family was missing and we needed to get her back.
"Aidan and the girls went on ahead and not long after they got on the ferry I got a phone call from a lovely gentleman asking me if I was missing a wee dog. He said he was sadly on his way to a funeral bur a small brown dog had turned up in his garden which he had secured as best as he could.
"He said the wee dog had a green harness on and I felt it had to be her. He explained he had no idea a dog was missing but he's mentioned Coco to a friend who mentioned there was a dog missing who matched her description, and his pal had given him my mobile number.
"He said that he woudn't be there because of the funeral but said to go on into the garden and check the dog. I raced over with Aidan's brother and we couldn't get the gate open so awe had to climb over.
"But I couldn't get my boots to fit on the fence panels to climb up so I took my boots of and scrambled over in my socks and called for Coco and there she was.
"She held back for a moment or two and then she realised what was going on and she bounded over to us. Let's just say there were a lot of tears. I checked her over and she looked brand new, no injuries and really very little weight loss.
"So I quickly phoned Aidan and the girls and told them Coco was coming home. They had got off the ferry and driven about half an hour and reached Girvan by this stage so they stopped there and waited for me to get on the next ferry and meet up with them.
"And as DogsLive called us we were all together again and facing the seven hour journey home - it's a long trip but all of us were very happy. Losing Coco was hellish to be honest. None of us really slept at all, we were stressed out thinking of her out on her own, we were so so worried and desperate just to find her.
"But we were totally blown away by the response of people in Northern Ireland to our situation, with so many people coming out to search for Coco, Lost Paws NI who used their thermal drone to look for Coco, Play for Strays for funding the drone, for DogsLive and Belfast Live for getting our story out to almost 200,000 people and the fantastic K9 Walker.
"They never gave up and they were so delighted to hear that Coco had made her own way to a garden in Kilcoole Gardens near the Antrim Road. The efforts people made to help Coco and us as a family were incredible and all we can do is say thank you and give a donation to Lost Paws NI and it just doesn't seem enough.
"We will be home on December 23 and wake up as a family together Christmas Eve and to have Coco home with us is all we need for Christmas. There have been so many tears, tears of sadness and fear for Coco and tears of happiness when we got her back. The feeling was incredible.
"We want to thank so many people and all the readers of DogsLive and Belfast Live for sharing our crisis and supporting us so much."
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