The dog who went missing when her owner was involved in a collision with a car on the A10 last week was safely caught after running loose for just short of 24 hours.
Holly was out with her owner Nicola Lawrence, 71, in the early hours of Friday morning when the tragedy unfolded near Reed. Ms Lawrence sadly died, and the frightened dog ran off.
Police were out with a drone to locate five-year-old Holly.
The Dogateers, a group which works to find missing dogs in Hertfordshire, heard about the crash and went out to help.
The group’s Viv Perry was involved in the effort and also runs The Little Rescue – which fosters and rehomes pooches from Herts and Romania.
She told the Crow: “Holly was homed by The Little Rescue three years ago so we do know her and were determined to get her to safety. As soon as we heard, myself, my friend Hessa from Hessa’s Homeless Hounds, her daughter Amy, and the rest of the Dogateers came out, as did several other dog lovers.
“It was really cold and foggy that afternoon and night it wasn’t good weather at all.”
The Dogateers put posters up, spoke to local vets and checked the collision site for any signs that Holly was injured – thankfully, she was unhurt.
As night fell they set up a feeding station and camera in the front garden of where Holly lived with her owner in Buntingford, and went home at midnight.
Holly made it back at about 1am and the group was alerted by the camera, but the dog was spooked and ran off again – so the volunteers sat in their cars at the house in the early hours in the hope of catching Holly.
The group had set up an improvised trap with the back garden gate as she was scared so would run from anyone and laid a food trail into the garden. She ventured back at around 3.30am and slowly made her way into the garden where she was immediately contained and after coaxing and calming her down she loaded into a crate for transport.
“We were so relieved when she came back at about 3am and we caught her.
“We we put her in the crate in the garden. I think Nikki would have been so pleased that her dog was safe.
“By the time we got home it was 5am or 6am. Holly is doing OK – I thought she would be quite traumatised, but she is doing well.
“She is intermingling with other dogs – she knows it here because I’ve fostered her before.
“The other dogs are calm so that helps, and her character is friendly and laid back. We might have a potential home for her, there is someone who has come forward from Buntingford that knows her.
“It really was about team work. Thank you to LW Pet Care Services who offered to organise a search party, and everyone who read about Holly and went out to help. Thank you all for sharing and caring.”
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