Joy as Chester is found after horse trial escape
A nervous young dog is safe and well after doing a disappearing act at the Blair Castle International Horse Trials.
On Thursday afternoon, the second day of the giant horse event at Blair Atholl, Chester the six-month-old dapple dachshund puppy was with his owners, standing next to the cross country section, when he slipped his harness.
A search by Katie McCandless-Thomas of the Missing Pets Facebook page was begun in earnest but this proved complex as the pup had fled into a huge expanse of open ground.
Katie said being lost at a big public event would have been very intimidating for such a wee dog given the amount of people, horses and vehicles moving around by day and all the new sights and sounds.
When Chester had still not been found by nightfall, volunteers went to the showground to search using a thermal scope.
The pup was seen in the early hours of Friday and several more times but he was just too nervous to be caught.
The number of people involved in the search grew, with extensive ground work by specialist team Muzzle Mutts Lost Dog Search Track and Trap and Lost Dogs Dumfries and Galloway.
There was additional help from volunteer Lorraine, who tracked reported sightings on a map.
Then a member of the estate team at Blair Atholl successfully trapped him on Sunday.
Chester’s overjoyed family came to take him home. Happily he was none the worse for his three nights in the Highland Perthshire wilds.