A Bulgarian rescue puppy who ran off just four days after moving to Dundee has been found after a major search.
Marcusa, a mixed breed dog, went missing while on a walk with new owner Deivids Valds in the Panmurefield area last week.
Deivids spent the following five days putting up posters and using drones to look for the 10-month-old.
But she was found with the help of a Livingston-based dog search group, run by volunteer Hazel Gowans – thanks to the tempting smells of hotdogs and sardines.
Deivids said: “She was finally caught at around 3am on Monday. It’s absolutely brilliant to get Marcusa home.
“We were worried that time was running out and we weren’t going to find her any time soon.
“However, thanks to Hazel and her group, along with Missing Pets, Dundee and Angus, we have Marcusa safely home.
‘She’s a bit dirty and smelly but seems fine’
“She’s still very anxious and fearful but we’ll take it slowly and build her trust with us in her new home.
“She’s a bit smelly and dirty but apart from that she seems fine.”
Despite several sightings after going missing, no one had been able to get close enough to Marcusa to catch her.
But Hazel brought with her specialist equipment and expertise that eventually led to her being caught.
Deivids added: “She had been spotted in a drive only around a mile from home.
“Hazel set up a trap in the drive with bait to tempt her. This worked and Marcusa found the trap and the bait.
“However, it was still a slow process catching her. She tentatively entered the trap almost 30 times before she triggered it and she was safely held inside.”
Hazel said: “We really thought we were going to have to have a second night out trying to trap her.
“She wasn’t an easy trap. She evaded the mechanism about 30 times.
“Thankfully, having seen this a few times in other dogs, the decision was taken to actually bury the bait feed under the trap floor to hopefully make her have to work for it.
“I waited for her to leave then sunk hotdogs and sardines below the cage on the off chance she’d put both front paws down together. She’s very clever and very beautiful.”
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