Dogsey

A Chihuahua missing for four months has been reunited with its owner in time for Christmas after it was found in a Christmas sack, 40 miles from home.

Schoolchildren found wearing a Christmas jumper in the bag filled with dog food, treats and a tear-jerking note, in a church.

Relieved owner Samantha Jones said she thought she'd never see her tiny dog again and was gobsmacked that Eragon, the tiny tan Chihuahua, was found so far away.

He went missing while Samantha was walking him near their home in Bowditch, south London, in August but was found on Tuesday last week in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

I thought I would never see him again. I was especially shocked to find he was in Hertfordshire - quite a way from my London home.
It is so lovely to have him home again in time for Christmas. We've been making quite a fuss of him as you can imagine.

- Samantha Jones

RSPCA officers believe the three-year-old dog was well looked after during its four-month holiday but the temporary owners were unable to cope with it so left it on the porch of St Mary's Church.

The note left with Eragon read:

My lady is going into a home. I need food cut small. Please find me a lovely new home. So sorry. My lady failed. So sorry.

- Anonymous note

The RSPCA scanned Eragon's microchip after the children handed it in and officers traced it back to its rightful owner Samantha.

Eragon had clearly been cared for, as the treats, jumper and card show, but it could have ended quite badly to leave a little dog like that out with no care in the temperatures we've been seeing recently.

Luckily in this case there is a happy Christmas ending - and Eragon has been taken home to his original owner.

It was certainly one of the more unusual, and most festive, rescues I have ever been called out to.


I have never come across a Chihuahua in a Santa sack on a church porch before.

– Stephen Reeves, RSPCA inspector