STORM is home.
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The six-year-old Australian cattle dog, which went missing from a Snake Valley stud eight days ago, has been returned to his owners.
Maryheather Kennels co-owner Fiona McCoy said she received a phone call from police at 9.30pm on Tuesday that a dog believed to be Maryheather Storm had been found and reported to police.
Ms McCoy was relieved to find the limping but otherwise unharmed Australian cattle dog was indeed Storm.
“I honestly believed we’d never see him again,” Ms McCoy said.
“We had people looking interstate for him. He’s home and he’s safe. It is a fantastic outcome.
“He’s really happy to be home and he’s not keen for (Maryheather co-owner) Dan or I to leave.
“He looks like he has lost weight and he has a pronounced limp but nothing a bit of TLC over the next week or so won’t fix.”
Storm, who is related to three-time Royal Melbourne Show best in breed champion Maryheather Drumboy, has been valued by another Australian cattle dog breeder at about $5000.
Ms McCoy said the man who found Storm thought, given his condition, Storm may have fallen off the back of a ute.
The man contacted police after his daughter saw the story about Storm from Monday’s The Courier.
“We put the story from The Courier onto Facebook,” Ms McCoy said. “It got a huge response. It was seen by more than 8000 people.”
Ms McCoy still believes Storm did not simply escape and that at least one other Australian cattle dog – a female – has gone missing in the region.