Dirty laundry has helped reunite a Dundee girl with learning disabilities and her beloved pet dog 11 days after it went missing.
Border collie Roxy had been missing since she ran off after being startled by a car while being walked on Monday, December 7.
Despite a city-wide search for her, and thousands of people sharing appeals to trace her on social media, nobody had been able to trace Roxy.
The loss of the family pet was particularly hard on her 11-year-old owner Paula Ruddy, who suffers from Global Development Delay.
This means she has speech difficulties and a mental age of between 18 months and three years.
She and Roxy had developed a special bond and the four-year-old dog even watches over Paula as she climbs up and down stairs in the family home in Kirkton.
Paula’s delighted mum Pauline described how a dirty vest from the family laundry pile helped bring Roxy home in time for Christmas.
She said: “I got a phone call from Hilary, one of the dog wardens, in the morning to say a woman had spotted a dog on Heron Drive, which is just behind Claverhouse where she ran off.
“I got my son to look after Paula and then as I was setting off we got another call from Hilary to say she was 99.9% certain it was Roxy.
“When I got there with a woman who I just met last week because she was helping look for Roxy they were standing in the cul-de-sac so as not to scare Roxy off.
“I had read that you are supposed to carry something with your scent on it so had grabbed a vest I wore yesterday, put that on the ground in the garden with some dog food and then plonked my bum down in the mud, so I wouldn’t scare her.
“Within a few minutes I heard her sniffing and when she came near I was able to put the collar on her.”
Pauline said Roxy has lost a lot of weight and has injured one of her front paws but is otherwise in good spirits.
“She was excited to see Paula and was jumping up. Paula had to keep saying ‘down, down’,” she said.
Pauline added she had been overwhelmed by the support she had received from people across Dundee when looking for Roxy.
“I posted online there had been a sighting in Lochee and within 15 minutes of a post going up there were 12 people out looking for,” said Pauline.
“It restores your faith in human kindness and that people like animals more than humans.”