Loss of dog leaves family ‘devastated’

On Sunday December 4 Maggie Gray’s three Jack Russells were playing in the garden that backs on to the bridleway at Hurston Lane in Storrington.

When Poppy, her daughter Charlotte’s black and tan dog, hadn’t returned, alarm bells started ringing.

Maggie, 58, said: “The dogs are used to people walking about on the bridleway and usually ignore them or come back so something must have happened for her not to come home.”

Poppy was given to Charlotte on her 16th birthday. She is now 20 and is said to be ‘devastated’ by the fact her dog is missing.

Maggie said: “It is just not knowing what’s happened. She has been spayed so she is of no use to anyone. She has been microchipped and tagged so if someone does find her they have our details.”

The concern is that the dog has been given a new home, and Maggie asks anyone who has recently been given a dog like Poppy to take her to the vet’s to see if she is chipped.

Horsham District Council’s dog warden told the County Times: “We are not aware of a problem with dognapping in the Horsham district.”