Dogsey

A farmer has been reunited with the sheepdogs that were stolen from his car thanks to animal lovers on a social networking site.

Alastair McLean was feeding cows last Thursday at 1 p.m. on the Avonbridge to Armadale road when thieves made off with his Land Rover Defender, with the two pets in the back.

Alastair, who also works as an HGV driver with Tesco in Livingston, said: “I was away from the car for a few seconds when they stole it, they must have been watching me and knew my routine as I always feed the cows at the same time.

“I wasn’t bothered about the car, the insurance can take care of it, I was more concerned about the dogs.”

Daughter Hazel took to the social networking site and shared pictures of Meg and Sheila as well as the 4x4 and within a few hours, they had been viewed over 20,000 times. Incredibly, the couple in North Lanarkshire who found the dogs saw it.

They had seen the dog being pushed out of the Land Rover at Salsburgh, 17 miles from where they were taken. Assuming they had been dumped by their owner and with no microchips or address on their collars they took them in.

Alastair (55) said: “Luckily they saw the photo on that site. At 11 p.m. they got in touch and by midnight we had them home. I’m no fan of social media but the response to the dogs was incredible and we would not have got the dogs back without it. Thankfully lots of people took the time to share the picture and meant we got Meg and Sheila home.”