A heroic community-wide search has helped a local family reunite with their toy cavoodle on Thursday, a week after the dog went missing.
The story of missing Winx captured the hearts of thousands of Canberrans who followed updates of the search on social media and called in with sightings of the pup.
"I reckon we had half of [Theodore] looking. It just spread so wide," said owner Katrina Gillogly, adding that residents from all over Canberra and beyond also joined in.
Ms Gillogly and her family were holidaying on the coast when they learned that Winx escaped from a home in Calwell, where Ms Gillogly's mother was looking after the family's two dogs.
She believes the nearly two-year-old pooch pushed through a flap at the base of a gate when Ms Gillogly's mother went out to buy groceries.
"I'm pretty convinced she's watched mum go and she was like - hang on a sec, I don't want to be here on my own - and she's pushed that flap," she said.
The devastated family quickly sprang into action, travelling back to Canberra, posting about their lost pooch on social media and letterboxing residents with flyers of missing Winx.
At first, there was silence and the family thought their dog had been snatched off the street. Then, sightings of Winx started pouring in. Ms Gillogy said hundreds of people got in touch to help.
Piecing together locals' accounts, Ms Gillogy believes Winx made her way through Theodore and up Monaro Highway.
She said members of the community had tried to catch Winx but the dog had been in flight mode and bolted every time anyone approached her.
"When they got out to try and catch her, she had bounded over the scrub land, they said, like a rabbit," she recalled.
On Wednesday, Ms Gillogy went searching for Winx throughout Theodore but by then, the dog was sighted in Wanniassa and, shortly after, in Greenway.
By Thursday morning, she was spotted in Richardson. Then, a woman called in, telling Ms Gillogly, Winx was in back in Calwell, behind the ambulance station.
Ms Gillogly put a post out on social media, asking members of the community to help her close in on her dog and jumped on a scooter to the location.
"I needed manpower to be able to close in on her so that she didn't run to the Monaro, so she didn't run back into Richardson," she said.
Around 30 people had gathered to help her get Winx home.
Ms Gillogly was then able to coax Winx to her thanks to directions given to her earlier by Volunteers from Missing Pet Investigators Australia.
Pushing some food and her hoodie towards Winx, allowed the dog recognise Ms Gillogly, giving her the opportunity to lean through a hole in the fence and grab her.
"Once I wreathed her through and she smelled [me], her whole demeanour changed."
Ms Gillogy took Winx straight to the vet, where she was greeted with cheers from staff who were elated to see the lost pup back with her family.
The pooch is believed to have journeyed more than 100 kilometers through the district of Tuggeranong before she was reunited with her family.
Winx has lost half a kilo over the course of her journey but Ms Gillogy said the pup has picked up new survival skills.
"She's very much exhausted ... she'll probably sleep for the next 48 hours."
Ms Gillogy said she was thankful to the community, especially to the Canberra Lost Pet Database and Missing Pet Investigators Australians.
"If someone goes missing in your suburb, it doesn't hurt going for a 15-minute walk. You might find someone's pet and give them the joy that we had," she said.
A community of locals who helped find Winx have since organised a celebratory gathering at midday on Sunday at the Calwell Club.
