Experts have said that Nicola Bulley's dog would not have been sure what to do after her owner went missing, and stayed near a "familiar smell". Willow was reportedly found running back and forth near the bench where the missing mum-of-two's mobile phone was found still connected to a work call.
The 45-year-old has now been missing for two weeks and friends have been out appealing for anyone with any information to come forward.
Animal behaviour and training consultant Nina Bondarenko told the Daily Star Willow displayed "flushing behaviour" after being found without her owner.
Read more: Live updates as friends appeal for information two weeks after disappearance
She added: "They’re bred for hunt and retrieve, and they’re bred to flush out game, so they have to be very amenable to being handled at a distance, they have to be responsive at a distance. They were never bred as guard dogs. Some of the bigger hunt and retrieve breeds were but these were never, they were always just jolly, intense little working dogs, flushing out game."
Kimberly Freeman, from dog training business City Sit Stay, added: "I know there’s some speculation as to the dog being in distress in the water. They’re generally bred to swim quite well, a lot of dogs can swim naturally but spaniels are especially good swimmers, given what they’re raised to do and bred to do.
"Because they are so loyal to their owners, if there was some kind of distress going on they would be very panicked and probably try and help as best they can. If they weren’t able to, there would be a lot of pacing around, vocalising as well, and if there were other people around they would try to get that person’s attention."
Jose Ros, from London Puppy Classes, said: "The dog - by genetics - will enjoy going from bush to bush flushing birds, that’s what they enjoy doing most. As for where the dog sits in this equation, if the dog was found pacing up and down, probably the dog was just anxious as the owner disappeared.
"Unfortunately, the dog is not able to tell the police what happened." He added whether or not a dog would jump into a body of water after its owner "would depend on the individual" and "on whether the dog was trained" to do so.
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