A COUPLE who never lost hope of recovering their stolen dog were reunited with their trusty companion at the weekend - two years after it went missing.

Staffordshire bull terrier Jade, which was traced through a microchip, instantly recognised its owners Barry and Claire Daniels.

Jade had already been found and claimed by someone else when its owners could not be found, only to get lost yet again.

Mr Daniels said: "We are absolutely delighted. We had moved twice since she went missing, but never gave up on her. She answered to her name after all this time."

Eric Heseltine, of Holy Cross Farm Boarding Kennels, at Haswell, Easington, County Durham, said: "Two years ago, the dog came into the kennels. We scanned it and came up with an address in Lincolnshire, but got no reply there.

"Then a man from Hartlepool came in and claimed the dog was his. He had no proof and we could not prove otherwise."

Then on Friday, the same dog turned up again.

Mr Heseltine said: "I decided to look on Petlog again. Only this time it came up with a different address - in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

"This time we managed to trace the owners. The dog recognised them immediately and went bounding up to them."

Mr Daniels, a bombadier with the 22nd Regiment Royal Artillery, said Jade disappeared from his Catterick Garrison back garden in March 2001.

He said: "We suspected she had been stolen and put up posters throughout the garrison offering a £250 reward.

"We had had her microchipped with Petlog and never lost hope of getting her back. Three months ago, when we moved house again, we thought we would give it one last chance and re-register her.

"We had only got her certificate back with the change of details when we were contacted and told she had been found.

"All I can imagine is that the first time she was found, we were between addresses when they tried to contact us."