A SAUSAGE dog puppy has been emotionally reunited with his owners after spending three days lost on farmland in North Yorkshire.

Seven-month-old miniature sausage dog Floyd bolted from a farm in Middleton Tyas on Friday evening after being scared by another dog.

He disappeared for three days and nights, leaving his owner Fern Holmes fearing the worst.

But after days of desperate searching, sleepless nights and invaluable help from the voluntary Lost Dog Trapping Team, Floyd has now been safely reunited with Fern after being tempted out of a field by the smell of barbecued food.

A heartwarming video of the moment he ran towards Fern after around 40-minutes of indecision has been posted on facebook and shared by hundreds of people – even being viewed as far afield as Spain.

When Floyd first went missing, Fern, of Pierremont Road, Darlington, posted an appeal online and said she was overwhelmed by the support from people who wanted to help find him.

She said that the help and advice from Mandy Butler of the Lost Dog Trapping Team was invaluable in ensuring the safe return of her beloved pet.

She said: “The amount of people who shared the post and all my friends and family who were out looking for him and strangers ringing and asking where they should go and search was unbelievable.”

Mandy of the lost dog team was confident that Floyd would be found and installed cameras at the farm in the hope that he would return there.

That faith was rewarded when he was caught on camera in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Fern said: “We were 90 per cent sure it was him, so that gave us a little bit of hope.

“But then there was nothing, no sightings of him all day Sunday and Sunday night.

“By that point I thought we not going to find him – this is a dog who normally sleeps on a bed under a duvet, he’s only seven months old and I thought, how could he survive out there?

"Particularly with how cold it’s been, especially on a night.”

The Northern Echo:

Seven-month-old Floyd

But thanks to Fern and her partner Doug Dinwiddie’s perseverance, Floyd emerged from a field on Monday evening after the pair repeatedly cooked bacon on disposable barbecues to entice him out.

Following Mandy’s advice, the pair kept quiet so as not to risk the terrified dog bolting again and they also took along their other dog, Frieda, in the hopes that Floyd would pick up their scent and return to his family.

After more than half an hour of Floyd looking at Fern from a safe distance, he finally recognised her and ran towards her, jumping into her arms and showering her with licks.

Fern said: “Before he finally came over it was pretty traumatic and emotional but it was amazing he came back.

“I just wanted to run over and get him but I knew how scared he must have been so we just sat waiting and hoping and praying that he would recognise us and come back to us.”

The Northern Echo:

Floyd is now back with his best friend Frieda

Fern and Floyd’s story has captured the hearts of hundreds of facebook followers and she is using the platform to fundraise for the Lost Dog Trapping Team, without whose advice she does not think she would be with Floyd now.

“Mandy was amazing,” Fern said. “Her advice was incredible – I wouldn’t have thought to have barbecues – and putting the cameras out and everything.

“She’d even suggested putting a drone up and it is all for free because they are volunteers. They are amazing.”

And now that he is safely back at home, Fern is buying Floyd a special present – a tracking device for his collar.