Sausage dog who spent three days lost on Yorkshire farmland reunited with owners

Floyd, a seven-month-old miniature sausage dog, bolted into a field in Middleton Tyas, North Yorkshire, when he was frightened by barking on Friday evening.

The moment he finally plucked up the courage to come out of hiding on Monday was captured on video by his frantic owners, Fern Holmes and Doug Dinwiddie, who had to sit still until he came to them.

They had feared the worst as Floyd was nowhere to be seen over the weekend, even when they brought out their 18-month Airedale, Freida, to entice him out.

Ms Holmes, 32, said: “We were at the family farm and one of the dogs started barking and Floyd got frightened and took flight.

Want more farming and rural news? Join our dedicated Facebook group.“He did a lap of two of the fields, and the farm is 350 acres, and we were running after him.

“Then he disappeared into an 80-acre oilseed rape field and at that point, I rang Doug.”

She appealed for help on Facebook and family, friends and members of the public joined the hunt over the weekend.

The breeders where the Darlington couple bought Floyd even brought over his parents to try to coax him out with their familiar scent, without success.

People suggested they contact Mandy Butler, an expert from the Lost Dog Trapping Team on Facebook, who came over on Saturday to help them.

She advised that Floyd had gone into survival mode after being so frightened, and would not come if people were calling his name as he would still be terrified.

She lent them motion-cameras and a night-vision scope and was even considering sending up a drone.

With no sign of him by Monday morning, the couple thought he might have gone forever as they felt he was lacking the survival skills of less cuddly dogs.

But a farmer caught sight of him in the field and another searcher confirmed she thought she saw the puppy, so everyone apart from his owners and their Airedale left the farm, waiting for Floyd to feel safe enough to come out.

Ms Butler advised them to cook bacon on disposable barbecues, open tins of sardines and leave trails of beef stock to lure him out, and finally, after about three hours, he did and smothered them in licks.

Ms Holmes, a finance and operations director for a multi-school trust, said: “You can see from the video I was hysterical with emotion.

“I was so tired after no sleep all weekend, I just couldn’t quite believe my eyes.”

Her partner, who is managing director of the White Digital web design business, said: “We felt such relief.

“He has got away with blue murder since.

“No-one tells him off anymore.”

The couple said Floyd was grubby but otherwise unharmed after his adventure, and they will now slowly build up his confidence again while walking with them.

They said they will also now buy a tracking device for his collar.

The couple have asked for people to support the Lost Dog Trapping Team by donating online here.

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