A West Lothian grandmother thought she would never see her pet again after it got buried alive while out on a dog walk.
Paula Dahl, from Ladywell in Livingston, was out walking her wee Yorkie-Shitzu dog Ronny on Friday when he ran down a rabbit hole and got buried under collapsing soil and stuck overnight.
The 60-year-old searched for hours on Friday night before friends forced her to call it a night but she was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to continue the search.
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After 18 hours she began to lose hope and the devastated dog owner believed Ronny was dead until local dog maverick Hazel Gowans was called out and swooped into action.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Paula said: "I was out with friends walking with our dogs on Friday evening and Ronny my five-year-old Shorkie ran off and went down a rabbit hole.
"He has done it before but always comes back out afterwards. I waited till 9pm out looking for him at Murieston Castle Dog Park then my friends made me go home because it was dark and unsafe.
"I was back out at 6.30am on Saturday morning but I wasn't getting anywhere. I contacted Hazel a dog tracker at 10.30am and she just swung into action.
"She had dislocated her knee but she just doped herself up on pain meds and assembled a team - she met us within the hour."
Paula described how she and her eight-year-old grandson watched in awe as the dog lover took over the rescue.
She said: "Hazel had her rescue dog Thor with her and she gave him something to get my scent and he led us straight to the burrow Ronnywas stuck in.
"He looked straight down the deep hole and Ronny confirmed with a bark that he was stuck in there.
"As soon as we knew where he was she was on her hands and knees digging him out, the mud was packed so tightly around him he couldn't move or get out."
Paula continued: "My eight-year-old grandson said it was the most intense thing he had ever seen, the experience was terrifying.
"We got him out just after 1pm and took him to the vet, apart from having a scratch on his eye he was absolutely fine but I'm still in shock - I thought he was dead.
"Hazel was hysterical trying to find him really quickly. Her dog Thor was amazing - he is a rescue dog so she has trained him for missions like this.
"She has a heat-detecting camera and was ready to get a drone in - she even brought a disposable BBQ and said we could cook some sausages so the scent would lure him out - she would have tried anything."
Hazel Gowans who has trained her dog to trace scents coordinated the rescue mission.
She said: "Wee Ronny went missing at Murieston at 4pm on Friday and was tracked by Thor to a rabbit warren and to a specific hole nearby the one his owner thought he had gone down.
"Some of the earth was moved and Thor managed to confirm that Ronny was behind a caved-in channel.
"Ronny in turn managed to bark confirming he was stuck in the hole. The earth above and below was dug out gently by hand as it was very soft and at risk of caving in further."
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She added: "After managing to expose Ronny's head and a couple of nervous nips to my hand Ronny was calmed down by his mum's voice and scent.
"This allowed me to work around him to release his head, shoulders and front paws and Ronny assisted by helping to dig himself out.
"He emerged unfazed and filthy but looked none the worse for wear when he was comforted by his mum and family."
Hazel Gowans runs a dog tracking service called Muzzle Mutts that uses her experience as well as thermal scopes, drones, live cameras, humane traps and microchip technology to find lost dogs and catch them. You can find out more about her page here.
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