Just as we had given up hope of finding our pooch, a stranger came to the rescue. By Christine McDonald, 48
I scratched my dog Loki behind the ears before he bounded up into the car boot.
‘Have a great time,’ I told my husband Robert.
‘See you in a few days, Mum!’ my sons Sonny, 15, and Miller, six, chorused.
‘Finally, I’ll have some time to relax,’ I joked.
As they drove away, I spotted all nine stone of Loki getting comfortable through the rear window.
He was a Cane Corso Mastiff, as huge as he was loveable,
and he would have a great
time camping with Robert and the kids.
The following day, I was on my way to work when Sonny called.
‘Mum, Loki’s been gone all night!’ he said, sounding frightened.
‘Put your dad on!’ I told
him, thinking he must be exaggerating.
But Robert explained that he’d been wrestling their gear out of the car after arriving at the campsite.
‘I put Loki’s lead down for one second and he was off!’
he said.
They hoped Loki would just find his own way back, but there was still no sign of him.
‘There’s just fields for miles on one side and a cliff face on the other,’ Robert added now.
While Robert and the boys searched, I called the Coast Guard and the Mountain Rescue, but without a specific location to search, they couldn’t help.
'There's just fields for miles'
So I put a post on Facebook, begging everyone in the area to look out for him.
Although plenty of people reached out with helpful suggestions, no one had spotted Loki.
‘I’m going to have to take the boys back to the campsite soon,’ Robert said. ‘Miller needs a rest.’
Over the next days, Robert did his best to make the search into an adventure for the boys. But eventually, he decided to bring them home to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
They were heartbroken and
I did my best to comfort them.
Robert said he’d go back up there by himself, but added,
‘I’m worried I’ll just be collecting a body.’
I decided to go with him, so we left the boys with their gran and
set off.
We’d quickly printed off some flyers with Loki’s photo on, so when we arrived we went round the local shops handing them out.
Everyone was really kind.
One guy called Clive said, ‘I’m going out that way, so I’ll look out for him.’
Over the next days, we kept searching ourselves and locals offered advice and help, even turning up with their drones to cover more ground.
One lady suggested leaving some food out. It was worth a try, so that night, we headed out to the fields in the pitch black with some dog treats.
Then suddenly, through the dark, I heard three loud barks.
‘That’s Loki!’ I screamed to Robert. ‘I know it is.’
Now I was certain he was alive, we redoubled our efforts, but we still couldn’t find him and after a few days, we headed home again feeling dejected.
Although I was glad to be back with the boys, it was a struggle to hide how gloomy
I felt.
But the following morning, Robert was in the bathroom when I heard him shout.
A second later he came hurtling into the lounge and said, ‘Clive’s found Loki! He’s spotted him on a ledge down the cliff face.’
Heart in my mouth, I reached out to Mountain Rescue at
once and let them know what we’d heard.
Meanwhile, Robert set off on another five-hour drive to fetch our beloved pooch back.
He rang me as soon as he arrived.
‘I’ve got him here!’ he said. ‘They’ve pulled him up.’
Poor Loki must’ve fallen from the cliff edge and been unable to clamber back up again.
Mountain Rescue had gained his confidence with a bag of treats, then winched him up using a builder’s rubble sack
as a counter-weight.
The next day the kids and
I waited impatiently for his return.
Robert came in that evening with a very subdued Loki.
He’d spent seven days with only rainwater to drink, but thankfully he hadn’t been injured.
‘Clive told me he’d gone up to the cliff to pay his last respects,’ Robert told me. ‘That’s when he heard Loki barking and scrambled down to find him.’
‘Loki’s had a very lucky escape!’ I said.
Now our gentle giant is back to his old self.
We’re incredibly grateful to everyone that helped us look for him and especially to Clive.
We’ve kept in touch with him and he’s going to drive down and pay us a visit soon.
Thanks to him, we have our beloved dog back!