West Northants & Cherwell Missing Dog Squad

30/11/2024

And quick as a flash - REUNITED ❤️

Urgent - just bolted from the house launton Road area in Bicester

Tagged, chipped and has health issues to needs to get home asap

Poster being done but please call 07879 895927 if you see her and we’ll get her owners out straight away

12/11/2024

Tomorrow marks a week since this girl simply vanished into thin air in the middle of the day.

Not a single sighting since then

Dogs don’t just vanish into thin air

Please - if you’re walking or driving around overthorpe / warkworth - look out for her. If you see anything unusual that might suggest a dog in the open (sheep scattering for no reason, twitchy horses, random dog poo in odd places, rabbit carcasses) or hear a dog barking when you wouldn’t expect to -please please message or call

10/11/2024

How would you like it?

Let's be real. We humans can be pretty annoying sometimes! Unfortunately, many of our bothersome — but common — behaviors can put dogs in uncomfortable posit...

09/11/2024

Still missing

Please call or message the page with any sightings 🙏

07/11/2024

04/11/2024

You’re on a walk and you see a dog on a lead. Your dog is running free.
Q: What should you do next?
(Cue *who wants to be a millionaire* music).
Is it:
A: put your dog on a lead
B. Let your dog run over and say hello.
C: Shout “Don’t worry, he’s friendly.”
Or
D: What dog? You were playing candy crush.
The answer is…. A.
Did you get it right?
Many dog owners don’t. They don’t understand what a negatively life-altering situation a rogue dog can be for on-lead walkers.
Here’s why:
Dogs you don’t know could be on lead for 100s of reasons.
They could be blind.
They could be recovering from surgery.
They could be deaf.
They could be aggressive.
They might be scared of being approached by strangers.
They might be training.
They could be a service dog.
They may be a rescue.
They might be terrified of dogs they don’t know.
They could be elderly or physically vulnerable.
They might simply prefer to walk on lead.
In the end, it doesn’t matter why they are on a lead. It’s none of your business. But what is your business is CONSENT.
Leads are a little flag that say “don’t come close”.
When you see them, putting your dog on a lead is respectful. You show the other owner that you CARE about their choice and consent. It doesn’t matter if your dog has 100% perfect recall. You respect the other person and their dog enough to be courteous and kind to uphold everyone’s safety by making absolutely sure everyone is on a lead (no matter how much you trust your dog).
As a person who is often walking a dog on lead for all of many the reasons listed, I can’t tell you how my heart sings when I see someone extend this gesture to me and my pack.
Your dog has no right or business running up to ANYONE (dog or human) without clear PRIOR consent to do so.
You have a responsibility to ensure your dog is in control in a public place. Failing to recall is an offense. It counts as a dog out of control in a public place.
Please remember to…
🐶🐾 Give Space and Be Responsible 🐾🐶

31/10/2024

Winnie Reunited .... a poo-tiful happy ending

Winnie went missing at 3pm on Tuesday 29th in Stoke Wood whilst on a walk. A little scrappety snippet of a thing ... she was out with her doggie mum and sibling when she was spooked by a much larger dog ... and she bolted ... running faster than Usain Bolt up the pathway, with human mum and friend desperately trying to catch up with her. She was last seen flying into the brambles at the side of the pathway and off into the undergrowth.

Family immediately started searching and called in re-inforcements to help as the woods are huge and Winnie is tiny. Scented items were put out to try and give Winnie a helping hand to get back.

When we were made aware towards the end of the afternoon, we loaded up our kit and made a plan to go and assist.

When we arrived at 8pm there was a lot of activity in the woods - with people searching.

We asked everyone to leave the area other than family and people who knew Winnie well (sorry if we kicked you out ! it all needed to be quietened down) and whilst Winnie's dad changed the tyres on the 2 blow outs (thanks to the astonishly deep pot hole on the way in) we all headed into the woods to assess the situation.

Very very dark, quite spooky, but very quiet .. we were able to search quite a lot of area with the thermal camera. Sadly all we picked up that night was a couple of birds, and a very large rat dancing around in the clearing. But no Winnie.

We placed live stream cameras in a couple of the significant locations, and left mum and dad on watch in the car park while we went home to monitor the cameras.

No sign of Winnie at all on the cameras overnight, family continued searching from 5:30am the next day after no sleep. At 11:30am we had a call from a lady walking her dog who saw Winnie pop out in the southern end of the woods ... and immediately retreat back into the bushes. We immediately rushed to the site, and walked the owners down to the area. Again searched with the thermal camera, and meanwhile someone arrived with a scent trained dog to try and pick up her direction of travel. Again, sadly, Winnie had disappeared.

More cameras were put up, and the family got on with lighting a barbeque and getting some good smells on the air to tempt out a hungry pup.

The following morning (Thursday), we mapped all the water in the area as we knew that would be Winnie's priority. There are no streams or ponds in the woods - so if Winnie was still there, she was making use of the few puddles, and she wouldn't be far from them.

As we arrived on site to move the cameras closer to the water sources, we got a call from TVP to say a small poodle type dog had just been seen running across the lanes on the M40 southbound at Junction 10. We immediately directed as many people as we could back to their cars to head over to the motorway to try and push her away, and back towards the fields. As they got to the cars - another call came in, to say she was back off the M40, and in the fields between the M40 and B4100. Safe, but still a very precarious position to be in.

Emergency calls were made to get a drone pilot on site (how many speed limits he broke i don't know as he was there in record time), and to position people on the roads around to try and keep her in the fields.

With the drone keeping watch from the air (so that he could follow her if she bolted again) the owners were able to go and search a couple of buildings that looked like a good place to hide. After an agonising nail-biting half hour of radio silence for those running the behind the scenes stuff ... Karen and Shanti emerged from one of the sheds with a very dishevelled and exhausted-looking Winnie in their arms.

Thank you so much to the extraordinary drone pilot who dropped everything and rushed out, to the admins from PLFIAO, the West Northants Banbury & Bicester Dog Squad who provided time, kit, advice and support, the ladies working at Cherwell Valley Services for helping with parking, posters etc, and to the many many many people who gave up their time to help search, share posts, offer help for this little lady. And not least the owners who did not eat, sleep, leave the area or rest for the 3 days she was missing, and their many friends and family who searched tirelessly.

If you happen to be walking in Stoke Wood and see one of her posters which we've missed - we'd be very grateful if you could remove it and dispose of it in one of the bins by the entrance 🙂

Good sleep on the cards for little Winnie and her owners .... here are a few snaps of the drama she caused and the many many visitors we had to the camera that smelled of sardines - you made me smile throughout this search

31/10/2024

WINNIE IS SAFE !!!!

30/10/2024

REUNITED ❤️❤️

12/10/2024

happily reunited

12/08/2024

Nelson's story.

Nelson was waiting in his car while his dad popped to a unit on Banbury Cross Retail Park on Saturday morning, with the window open to make sure he had some air.

At some point Nelson decided to climb out of the car window and go on a little adventure.

His dad enlisted some help from some of those working in the units to get word out as soon as he was discovered missing.

Things were somewhat confused - as sightings were coming in from 9am in the morning (before they even left home) of a lady running after him in an orange tracksuit (definitely not his owner) - so we weren't sure if there were 2 dogs, whether we'd missed the clocks going back, and which sightings were actually Nelson and which weren't.

With a little clarity and some extra information ... we were able to ascertain that he headed off round the back of Pure Gym and up the stairs to Maccy D's (fair play Nelson ... I'd do the same), and then changed his mind and crossed over to Starbucks Drive Thru for a pupcup.

When they wouldn't serve him - he went for a bit of a ramble around Beaumont Way Industrial Park - but we think around the back of the units as he was seen crossing Ruscote Way back towards McD's at 10:20, then popped out at Rugrats at 10:30, and then circled back to be spotted outside VPK and then Graf around 10:38. The trail then went completely cold. The information that we had was that he had been seen heading into the Graf site towards the woods. Many hours were spent by the owner, friends and family, and local volunteers searching the industrial estate, Ruscote,the canal and the woods behind the industrial estate. Not a single sign of him.

On a blisteringly hot Sunday, the owners of Graf opened up the factory so that it could be searched with the thermal camera (challenging when everything was melting in the sun). CCTV was checked and there was no sign of him going through to the woods, and he clearly wasn't on the site any longer

By this stage everyone was really worried - he is an older gentleman (14) and the temperatures were up to 30 degrees on Sunday afternoon. We were very concerned that he'd managed to get himself stuck in a unit without shade and with no access to water.

The team regrouped and made a plan for Monday morning.

Following a fresh appeal on the page on Sunday night, a few more sightings came in from Saturday morning - confirming the route he'd taken away from the retail park - and crucially a new sighting in Hardwick from 11:30am - which became the last time seen.

On Sunday night, a comment was made on a lost dog group that someone had seen Nelson at Grimsbury Reservoir on Sunday afternoon. We scoured the Banbury groups for any mention of this - but there was nothing to substantiate it. However - it would be a logical place for a dog looking for water to turn up - particularly if he'd picked up the streams at the Southam Road end of Beaumont and in the absence of any other sightings - it was as good a place as any to search. It didn't fit the Hardwick sighting but if he'd been aiming for home and realised he was going the wrong way - it was possible he had double-backed.

A drone pilot arrived first thing in the morning to search the area (thank you Barry) and Lissy from DogLost who was leading the case arrived soon after to ground search.

More posters were produced, printed and laminated. Thankfully the delivery of the posters was delayed by the inability to find the long cable ties, as on the way down to the reservoir a call came in from a couple in North Newington to say "we think we have your dog". Divert put in place - we got there to find Nelson having a fine old time with their dogs .. having had a spot of breakfast, and a good drink.

So from Hardwick .. Nelson had obviously picked up the stream and followed it (wrong way Nelson bud!!!!) which took him all the way to the pond at North Newington - some 4 miles away .. just behind this family's house. The family let their own dogs out for their morning wee ... and after some excitement on the dogs' part finding a new 4 legged friend in their garden ... Nelson was invited in for breakfast.

His tag had come off on his travels so they phoned the dog warden, and then decided to post about him on Banburyshire info. Thankfully, before posting, the lady decided to have a quick scroll before making her own post - and that's when one of his posts appeared, letting her know how to get in touch (whilst posters were out ... we'd never have dreamed putting them as far afield as NN).

Dog warden stood down ... and we picked Nelson up and delivered him back to his very relieved and expectant dad. Quick once over to confirm he was uninjured .. and Nelson was taken home for a goooooood loonnnnnng sleep.

Nelson travelled an estimated 7.8k on his little adventure, on some of the hottest days of the year. Not bad for an old man with short legs.

Brilliant effort from Banbury again - Lissy from DogLost who pounded the streets for days in very uncomfortable conditions, Barry from DroneSAR who was out searching the reservoir from the air, everyone in Banbury who shared his posts and got the word out, the owners of Graf who interrupted their weekend so we could search the site, Jane from PLAFIAO for always being all over the missing animal posts and everyone who went out searching, phoned in sightings, got the first posts out on facebook. And not least the couple who found Nelson in their garden and brought him in to safety.

I'm sure when he wakes up, Nelson will be very grateful to you all