Bradfield: Pet dog lost for eight weeks is home (From Harwich and Manningtree Standard)

Bradfield: Pet dog lost for eight weeks is home

2:37pm Thursday 4th February 2010

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A TWO-year old pet dog spent eight weeks lost in the Tendring countryside during the snow and freezing tempertures.

Owner, Robert Atkinson, feared the worst for his two-year-old Patterdale Terrier, Rufus, when he went missing in the woods just four days after he got him.

He thought he would never see him again when he was out in the cold temperatures despite sightings of the terrier in the fields.

Residents had left food out for him but no one had managed to catch him.

“He only has a short coat and was out all over the big freeze during December and January,” said Mr Atkinson, who lives in Bradfield.

“I spent many hours searching for him and looked in barns and old buildings but could not find him anywhere.

“He had only been with us for such a short while and did not know his own way home. People told me they had spotted him, but he would not go to anyone and as time wore on I really feared the worst.”

It was not until Tendring Council’s dog warden Allen East borrowed a large trap from kennels in Stowmarket that Rufus was finally recaptured.

But once caught and in Mr Atkinson’s van the terrier jumped up at the window and managed to lock himself in with the keys in the ignition.

His owner then had to gety spare keys from his home to be properly reunited.

“It was a very traumatic time and we were so relieved to finally get him back with us,” added Mr Atkinson.

“Others said Rufus must have perished in that weather but luckily he survived on the food people put out for him until he could be caught.”

Lynda McWilliams, Tendring’s cabinet mjember for the environment, said it was an incredible tale.

“Last week the dog wardens told me about how a Cocker Spaniel was reunited with its owner after a week out in the fields over the big freeze but eight weeks is remarkable,” she said.

“The wardens do an excellent job for the council in returning strays and reuniting pets with their owners and I am delighted that this story had such a happy ending.”

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