Dog tale’s happy ending
SAUSAGE DOG POPPY BACK HOME AFTER WEEK ON RUN AROUND TOWN CENTRE
POPPY the sausage dog has been reunited with her owner after a community came together to help find her after she went on the run for over a week.
The two-year-old dachshund ran off on Saturday, April 8, while she was out for a walk with owner Conner Murray and his other dog Ruby in Stockport.
She was spooked by Ruby getting into a scrap with another dog.
Conner said: “She was trying to run home. People were trying to grab her for me as she ran past, but she just got even more spooked and got up on to the railway line.”
He put posts on Facebook asking people to keep an eye out for her, and got a huge response.
Conner added: “My phone was just ringing off the hook with people saying they had spotted her. There were hundreds of people sharing the posts and looking for her.”
There were sightings of Poppy all over central Stockport, and at one point she even managed to get onto the viaduct.
She was also seen outside Decathlon near the pyramid roundabout and, even sun bathing outside the Travelodge in Heaton Lane. But despite their best intentions, whenever people tried to catch the runaway she would get spooked and dart off.
Conner said at one point he could see her on the railway tracks, but could not get her to come, and was not allowed to get on the tracks himself to catch her.
Among those who got involved in the hunt were Kelly Torr and her tracker dog Keeper, who managed to find a spot on an embankment near Decathlon where Poppy had been sleeping.
Conner was also assisted by the volunteers from It’s All About The Animals, a community group who help reunite missing animals with their owners, and the Reuniting Stray Dogs dog-trapping team, based in Levenshulme.
Conner, 22, from Adswood, said: “I knew the only way to get Poppy back was going to be to trap her, and the trapping team advised me to boil sardines in water. I smelled awful, but you need the smell to travel.”
And the sardine-water worked – after a week on the run Poppy was lured into the trap and she and Conner were reunited.
He said: “It was amazing, such a relief. I just want to say a massive thank-you to everyone who helped out. The dog-trapping team are all volunteers, and I know they have had some of their equipment stolen recently, so they are really in need of donations.”
See video at manchestereveningnews.co.uk