Hero Scots dog lover helps reunite pooch missing for 14 months with beloved pensioner owner

A heroic Scots dog lover has been praised after helping trace a mutt missing for more than a year across the border.

Nip, an 11-year-old working Bordie Collie, was lost on the moors around Shap, in Cumbria in the north-west of England for 14 months.

Devastated owner Bryan Strong, 76, was giving up hope after Nip vanished last January.

Bryan was was taken into hospital with a severe strok e in November 2019.

Bryan’s nephew Peter Whitehead, 52, and partner Karen Lowden, 52, were looking after Nip and running farm while he recovered in hospital.

But in January 2020 Peter and his 20-year-old son Jack were cleaning out the pen where Nip was kept and she ran off - most likely in search of her beloved owner.

Karen said: “There was no reason for it, out of the blue she just bolted. She had always been very close to Bryan and she didn’t really interact much with anyone else.

“She must have been very confused and went off in search of him.”

Bryan returned home from hospital in late January last year and the family had to break the news to him that Nip was gone.

Karen said: “He was devastated. Not only was he suffering with the effects of the stroke, but he couldn’t really understand why Nip had gone. He was also incredibly lonely without her by his side.

They are back working closely together (Image: Submitted)

Nip wasn’t seen for weeks but then she started returning during the night looking for food.

Karen starting leaving out food in the hope she’d stick around, but she didn’t.

The family reached out to dog lover Lee Herron, who is based in the Scottish Borders and runs Dumfries and Galloway Lost Dogs Facebook page.

Karen said: “That’s when I reached out to Lee Herron, who runs a lost dog group in the south of Scotland. I’d saw a Facebook post where Lee had helped trap another local lost dog in Cumbria and I wanted to see if she could help us.

“She gave us advice on feeding Nip and advised we place a large crate nearby to see if she would go near it, with the plan being to replace it with a humane trap if she did.

"However, she wasn’t interested.”

Lee said: “The added difficulty we had was that Nip was returning to what was her safe place.

"If we trapped her there and she was then released, as she’s an outdoor dog there was still a chance she’d take off again – only this time she’d be unlikely to return as it would no longer be ‘safe’.

“We had food down and Bryan’s scent in the area and we knew if we could get the two of them close together she would recognise him.

"We had cameras on Nip to see how she was behaving inside the barn to help us build a picture with a view to securing her.

“Scent is hugely important with lost dogs, it’s how they find their way.

"They no longer respond to familiar sounds or sights – they solely rely on their sense of smell.

"However, Nip didn’t show any interest in the crate and she didn’t stick around for any more than seconds at a time.”

Nip’s visits got less and less frequent and by early Winter 2020 she hadn’t been seen for weeks, leaving her family with the prospect that she might be gone for good.

Karen added: “This was her second winter out there and the area around Shap isn’t forgiving. We really did think she was gone – no one had seen her for a long time round the area.”

Then, on Sunday February 21, the family were over the moon when a local farmer called to say he had found Nip.

However, their joy quickly turned to sadness when he arrived at the farm carrying a very weak Nip in his arms.

He had found her curled in a heap in a heavily wooded area, barely alive.

“She just didn’t have any life in her, we thought she was gone,” said Karen, “then we got Bryan out and he spoke to her and clapped her - she instantly perked her head up and started crying.

“What a moment that was. She was home and safe. She was thin and weak, but she was alive.”

The family have spent the last four weeks building Nip’s strength back up with small regular meals and lots of tender loving care.

Karen added: “She is just a miracle. Bryan can’t speak the same since his stroke and doesn’t walk as well as before but he can speak crystal clear when talking to Nip.