'I fell to pieces': Family delighted after dog stolen six years ago is returned to them
A family has been reunited with their dog more than six years after the pooch went missing.
Jodie Ferrier, of Surrey south of London, had been desperately searching for her sprocker spaniel Fern since April, 2013.
Ms Ferrier started Facebook page Find Fern With Me to reunite her family with the missing dog.
The page currently has more than 16,000 followers.
She believes Fern was stolen from outside the family home and told a local newspaper the Shropshire Star losing the family dog was “absolutely heartbreaking”.
Ms Ferrier said at the time she was working in the field of her family farm as Fern sat in the driveway, but then the dog disappeared.
The family has spent years following up tips that might lead them to Fern, but were only met with dejection and despair.
A photo on the Facebook page showed the family placed a star for Fern on their Christmas tree in December, 2017.
But on Wednesday last week, Ms Ferrier received a phone call from a vet. Fern had been found.
“I instantly fell to pieces,” she told the Star.
“We ran through the confirmation of what the dog looked like and her name and everything like that and it all tallied, the information on the microchip was all correct and it was definitely my dog.”
Fern was found by a man walking the streets of Bracknell about 20km away from where she went missing.
It’s not known how she came to be there.
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Ms Ferrier wrote on the Facebook page the pooch has been given the “all clear” from vets but is still contending with fleas and worms.
“It's been an agonising, heart wrenching, sick making, sleepless night ordeal for 2272 days,” she wrote.
“Whoever had her fed her well and for that I am grateful, but she was never yours to keep and now she's home where she belongs.
“So much to learn about her and a lot of adjusting to do, but we will slowly make her feel like the queen she is!”
She’s now changed her focus from finding Fern to encouraging people to get their pets microchipped.
“What I would love is for everyone to pick another lost or stolen dog and show that dog the dedication you showed me and my family,” she wrote.
“This is the end and the beginning all in one.
“I promise to use Fern’s notoriety to help the Vets Get Scanning campaign and to encourage everyone to chip and update that chip religiously just like I did.”
The campaign’s aim is to have all pets scanned by vets during their first appointment to ensure “pet and owner match”.
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