Spaniel caused eight motorway closures while owners were in Spain on holiday

The moment a dog who caused eight motorway closures after escaping while her owners were on holiday has finally been caught.

While away with her family in Majorca, Nicola Patterson, 33, from Wrotham in Kent, received a phone call to tell her that her beloved dog, Phoebe, had gone missing.

The Welsh Springer Spaniel was being looked after by a friend of the family, in Dartford, when she knocked on the back gate and escaped from the garden.

Ms Patterson jumped on the next flight home after receiving the news.

She said: ‘I flew home – I didn’t sleep all of Tuesday night and on Wednesday I got a really late-night flight home for me and my baby.

‘I got back to Stansted at around 2am on Thursday morning and managed to get home at 3am but I was out looking by 5am.’

There were sightings of Phoebe across Kent, but it appeared she had crossed over the A2 on a footbridge before panicking and running away when she came across from industrial units.

There was then a report of the spaniel being spotted on the side of the A2, causing the road to be temporarily closed for a check – but Phoebe was nowhere to be seen.

In the proceeding days, Phoebe’s disappearance led to a further seven motorway closures.

The charity Lost Dog Discovery UK received permission to put five cameras on the M25 to help with the search for the spaniel.

A couple of days later, Nicki Scriven, who works at the charity, finally caught sight of the beloved pet on her cameras.

Nicki rang Nicola to tell her the news, saying: ‘I’ve seen her, I’ve seen her – she’s on the camera.’

Nicola confirmed that it was indeed her lost dog, and permission was granted that night to set up a dog trap.

The trap was set and Nicola’s dad bought some nice food to lure Phoebe, including a doner kebab and sausages – but the dog didn’t go back to it.

So, Nicki took her time sitting on the hard shoulder watching the Welsh Springer Spaniel eat all the other food that had been left out while ignoring the expensive food.

On Saturday, September 7, National Highways suspended traffic again so a second trap could be set – and at around 11.20pm, Phoebe spent eight minutes circling the trap and walking away.

And video footage captures the moment that Phoebe was finally lured into the trap – with Nicki pulling up in her van soon after to meet her.

After almost two weeks of turmoil, Nicki was reunited with her beloved pet.

She said: ‘They’d put the dog crate up to the back door and they undid it and she came flying in bouncing through the back door and she was so happy to see us.

‘Apart from being skinny and a bit of skin missing from her pads, there was nothing else wrong with her.

‘She was bouncing around like she’d just been out for a walk, not that she’d been missing for 11 days.

‘That was my husband’s birthday – so it was like a birthday present that she’d come home.’

Reflecting on the impact the dog’s disappearance made, Nicola added: ‘We were getting messages from people all over the world who owned the same breed – maybe her breed is why she went so famous.

‘Generally, everyone we spoke to was so helpful and the number of people who went out searching on their dog walks was incredible.’

Since her return, Nicola said that Phoebe is a lot more confident and barks more frequently – but she says ‘that’s a small price to pay’ to have her dog home.

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