Pippa, a Romanian rescue dog, escaped from the dog sitter on Friday 11th October 2024. Pippa and Bobby, both Romanian rescue dogs, stayed with the dog sitter overnight while owners went away. Clear instructions were given by the owners for the dog sitters to not let them off their leads and two 10 metre leads were left for them to use in the park. These dog sitters were highly recommended on the app which lists recommended dog sitters. They failed to follow owners instructions and let them both off the leads in the park. They both bolted straight away. This was in Gorton M18.
Buddy came back and sat in the middle of the field. Pippa was seen on the M60 roundabout and a car chased her. Luckily she didn’t go down the slip road onto the motorway. She was last seen near to where she had initially ran from. Bobby sat and waited on the field for 5 hours until his owners got back (he wouldn’t let anyone near him) and he then ran straight to them . What a very clever boy!
Unfortunately Pippa was nowhere to be seen. Owners got in touch with us the following day, Saturday, and we went through all of the advice and the area was postered. We had very few sightings and none were actually confirmed to be Pippa but feed stations and live cameras were placed strategically. Pippa didn’t show up though.
Yesterday, when I got there, there was a new poster which had her name on (we never put their name on because if the lost dog is seen then people could call their name. They react badly to this and it makes them bolt). It also had a reward on for £1000. It turned out that the company who run the app had done this poster and asked the dog sitters to put them up. They had not consulted with the owner. Offering a reward really does endanger lost dogs when they are believed to still be out there. It encourages people to search and chase. So offering a reward endangers the lost dog and reduces their chances of being found alive. The motorway was very near to where she was lost and the railway. Which made it even more vital that no one should search or approach. The reward posters were removed and the dog sitters spoken to. The company was contacted telling them how much danger they had put Pippa in. I only hope they don’t do this again, especially without the owners permission because they are endangering dogs’ lives by offering a reward.
Owners sat out in their car for a couple of nights with the engine running but Pippa didn’t show. They sat outside for hours during the night at her last sighting but she still didn’t show.
Today, Wednesday 16th October, we got that one sighting which allowed Pippa to be found and to go home . A school, a mile or so away from where she was lost, contacted owners saying they had seen a loose dog in their grounds at the back of the school. It was raining heavily so the children hadn’t gone out to play. Her owner got to the school, saw a ‘Pippa’ sized hole in the bush, (she had a cheese sandwich with her as she had been at work and it was lunchtime so she took this with her), phoned her partner and as she was speaking to her, Pippa came out of the hole, grabbed and wolfed down the sandwich and ran to her owner . Never thought I would say this but thank goodness it rained today otherwise Pippa wouldn’t have shown herself in the grounds if the children had gone outside. Welcome home beautiful girl .
