A TARVES family have thanked a helpful stranger, who returned their missing dog to them.
The Newlands family, of Craighall Keithfield, were re-united with pet labrador Rinnes after an adventure which took him across the north-east as far as Turriff.
Alastair, Gillian and Katie Newlands were left devestated by Rinnes’ disappearance, and made repeated appeals in local papers for information on his whereabouts. Their prayers were answered on Thursday, when the couple received a phone call from a farmer in Turriff saying that he had been found.
Mr Newlands told the Times that the family were hugely relieved to have him back.
“He went missing on Monday, and we had a huge public response. We also had a lot of help from Linda at www.lostdogs-scotland.co.uk, who gave us advice on what we should do.”
Mr Newlands’ father Frank told the Times that Rinnes had been returned after an overwhelming public response.
“The public response was tremendous, and we had a lot of people phoning in to report that they had seen Rinnes in different place.”
From the responses, it becomes possible to plot Rinne’s movements – apparently, he had travelled north to Methlick, then north again to around Cairnorrie, before swinging west to Cummineston, and finally north-west to Forglen, where he was picked up by a local vet.
“He’s a big, strong dog,” said Mr Newlands Sr. “He’s fine and happy now, you’d never know that anything had happened! He’s a country dog, so we were very worried about how he would deal with traffic, or whether he would bother livestock, so it’s a huge relief to have him back.”