Alyssa, a nervous Cypriot rescue dog, managed to escape after going to her new home in Bolton, BL3, on 24 November 2018. After being sighted in various places around Bolton, she finally settled at St Peters church, Church Rd, in the cemetery. Her safe place was elsewhere nearby but she liked to spend a lot of her time weaving in and out of the headstones, hiding from people and sometimes playing with dogs that were out on a walk. She would mostly come out at dusk, and wait at the gate on Moorside Ave for me to pull up in my car, where I would take a blanket and sit/lie down among the graves (quite spooky in the middle of the night 
) and feed her. I tried everything to get hold of her, but she is too clever and never ever gave me an opportunity to do so. She would also follow me about, so we tried getting her to follow me into a contained garden. We blocked the road to traffic in order to get her following me. She did follow me but would not follow me into a garden. We made a giant pen out of the headstones to the graves, by blocking in between them but she knew and wouldn’t go near that part. We tried a humane trap, cooking on a bbq to entice her with the smell and cooking meat. Not interested. She would not go anywhere near anything that she deemed likely to catch her. Everything you can think of was tried. She just had to be the world’s naughtiest dog, who I nicknamed Minnie the Minx.
) and feed her. I tried everything to get hold of her, but she is too clever and never ever gave me an opportunity to do so. She would also follow me about, so we tried getting her to follow me into a contained garden. We blocked the road to traffic in order to get her following me. She did follow me but would not follow me into a garden. We made a giant pen out of the headstones to the graves, by blocking in between them but she knew and wouldn’t go near that part. We tried a humane trap, cooking on a bbq to entice her with the smell and cooking meat. Not interested. She would not go anywhere near anything that she deemed likely to catch her. Everything you can think of was tried. She just had to be the world’s naughtiest dog, who I nicknamed Minnie the Minx.She liked to wander and very often would go down to Halliwell, as far down as Merehall. She had a set route and she knew every single street and back alley (I now know them off by heart too). These were the heart stopping moments when she would roam.
We eventually managed to contain Alyssa on the 20 December. Every night she would watch us all say goodbye to each other, get in our cars and drive away. She would always watch from a certain gate. When everybody but me had gone, she would come out of the gate and go about her nightly walks. So we fenced off the whole pavement around the gate with netted fencing. I got in my car and the rest of the team were hiding away from the immediate area. She then poked her head out of the gate to check everyone had gone, and continued by walking out of the gate and along the pavement. I jumped out of my car and blocked the gate. Then once she could not escape we managed to secure her and get her into a crate and into my car. We had to outwit what I think is the cleverest dog in the world!
This is from her rescue over in Cyprus: “We have the most amazing news ever just on time for Christmas 
Our baby Alyssa is finally safe again . After almost a month of sleepless nights, and sky high stress levels Alyssa will finally sleep in warm bed. We are overwhelmed, and so grateful for her rescue team. They never gave up on her. Devoted so much time every single day, away from their families, being in freezing temperatures. This team was working tirelessly day and night thinking of ways to get Alyssa safe. We feel blessed that there are people like them in this world. Thank you is not enough, words cannot describe the gratitude we feel about them.
Our baby Alyssa is finally safe again . After almost a month of sleepless nights, and sky high stress levels Alyssa will finally sleep in warm bed. We are overwhelmed, and so grateful for her rescue team. They never gave up on her. Devoted so much time every single day, away from their families, being in freezing temperatures. This team was working tirelessly day and night thinking of ways to get Alyssa safe. We feel blessed that there are people like them in this world. Thank you is not enough, words cannot describe the gratitude we feel about them.Special thanks to Michelle Newns-Peers. A wonderful person who would do anything to get her safe. Not many people in this world would do what you were doing every single night for Alyssa. Thousand thank you to team Alyssa”.
