Custard, a Pocket Bully type dog first came to our attention when we were contacted by the dog warden in Bolton and asked to help. He had been seen in the area of Westhoughton for a few days and people had tried to catch him. Immediately we asked that everyone stayed away and did not leave any food for him as he had been chased and approached which made him even more frightened and extremely wary. He was just terrified and needed to be left alone so he could gain confidence in order to be safely caught. We needed him hungry so we could humanely trap him and had to remove a lot of food that had been left by people. He was in a very dangerous area and if approached he would go onto the motorway and get killed.
We headed over there straight away and set the humane trap up. Custard was still in the immediate area and we could see him, lay low in the long grass, watching us. Previous to setting the trap, I tried to win his trust by sitting down and throwing small bits of food towards him, while maintaining no eye contact and not talking. He eventually came right up to me but would not come near enough where I could slip the lead over his neck.
That night, people again tried to catch him and he left the field that he had been staying in. He went onto the A6 and people stopped cars to chase him. He was then cornered by a group of people and eventually gave up due to exhaustion. An owner had contacted us earlier on and we learned that Custard had gone missing from a different area and had travelled a fair distance but they had not informed the dog warden or put posts on social media (the owner did not use social media). As soon as we were alerted to Custard being on the A6 we let the owner know, who headed straight out there. As soon as Custard had been caught the owner arrived and Custard was happily reunited.
