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stuck between a root and a hard place!


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Every Terrier owners nightmare. Sat morning stroll through the country turned out to be 24hrs of hell.

Out exercising my two terrier bitches, Tess 4 yr old rough Pat x Lakeland bitch & Pip 1 yr old pup, keeping one eye on the pair of them as well as having a heart to heart with my good lady, they picked up the scent of a rabbit and give chase into a culvert.

Quickly realising they have strayed into a off limits cow field (No beasts around, fortunately - except the mrs of course!) A quick blast of the whistle soon caught the attention of the pup who dutifully jumped out of the ditch and came to heal. The same could not be said for her mum. She was last seen darting back into the ditch in full hunt mode.

A quick look at my watch..10:50am, not too concerned at this early stage as she has been known to go and do her own thing and return once she's satisfied her natural instinct.........14:00 send mrs to pick up my lad to aid in the search, he returns with spades. Six hours pass, checked every visable hole, no sign, no mark from pup.Darkness descends, still nothing but the sound of night.

A mate, Andy who had been beating all that day rang in response to a couple of texts I'd sent him explaining the situation. He offered to help search , but better to leave it til first light (no point stumbling around in the dark getting covered in cow shit and arousing the suspicions of the game keeper).

7am sun morn......the search party gathers, friends with their terriers and my mate with his two terriers, spaniel and lurcher cross. He does a sweep of the area with his first terrier Willow who marked a couple of holes but nothing definite. Up steps Holly a red short legged cross, straightaway she gave a good mark at the base of a tree in the ditch confirming Willows interest, within seconds she moved position and marked a second bolt hole just in the cow field.

With that a shout from Andy had me racing over to the hole just as he was clearing the earth away from Tess's head, she had got herself stuck in the root system of the tree.

The time was 9:00 she had been missing almost 24hrs. Apart from the obvious covering of mud she was in pretty good shape, her front legs which had been pinned behind were raw where she had been struggling to get free.

Once home she was cleaned up, wounds tended, fed and watered. (Didn't move from her bed until the next morn)

Big thanks to all who helped make this a happy ending especially Andy and his terriers.

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Definitely a case of a problem shared......funny thing now is, I've been out with her since and she stays very close. Maybe it's me just keeping a close eye on her or has the whole experience spooked her, if only! I'm pretty sure and most will agree, give it a couple more outings and she will be up to her old tricks. Mmmm.......Tracker collar for Christmas ?

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