A Remarkable Journey of Rescue and Reunion
Rescue dog Patsy has captured the hearts of many after a dramatic journey that saw her give birth to a litter while on the run. With her puppies snuggled up beside her, Patsy now appears content, but her path to parenthood was anything but easy.
Patsy’s story began when she was taken in by Christine and Leslie Reading just 24 hours before she managed to sneak under a garden fence. She ran towards a 12 square-mile private woodland on the other side of their Herefordshire valley, leaving the couple to search for her for weeks. They put up “missing” posters, made Facebook appeals, and delivered flyers in an eight-mile radius of their home in Yarsop, Herefordshire. Despite their efforts, Patsy remained elusive until she was eventually caught at a farmyard almost four miles from home.
The farmer allowed Mrs. Reading to set up a trap with a pressure plate inside, linked to a motion-sensitive camera. After catching a cat and a farm dog, the camera finally captured Patsy in the barn. The couple thought the drama was over, but Patsy’s distress continued after returning home. Noticing she was lactating, they took her to a vet who confirmed that Patsy had recently given birth.
Realizing they would have to search again, the Readings took Patsy back to the farm, expecting to find the puppies in an outbuilding. However, Patsy led them into the countryside, where Mr. Reading eventually found the four puppies cold and seemingly lifeless after being dragged almost a mile from the farm to woodland near St George’s church at Brinsop.
Mr. Reading described the moment he discovered the puppies: “I thought they were dead because they weren’t moving, but when I put them down my jumper I soon started to feel one of them wriggling. He ended up crawling along my sleeve and came out at the end, so I had to quickly grab him!”
The couple decided to keep the mischievous puppy, the only black pup in the otherwise cream litter, and are considering naming him Tubs “because he’s a little tubby.” Mr. Reading used the What3Words app to alert friends to his location, who arrived armed with pruners to cut him out of the thicket.
The Readings, who have six children between them from previous marriages and 19 grandchildren, took the litter straight to their local vets. Unfortunately, one of the puppies – the smallest and a female – didn’t survive. The other three – all male – are now thriving at home, with relatives lined up to take in the remaining two puppies.
Mrs. Reading, a former haulage company boss, shared how they took Patsy in from a woman who was renting a flat and who had been told by her landlord she couldn’t keep Patsy. “She settled in immediately and was running around happily in the garden. But she found a hole under the fence and bolted.”
The previous owner had warned the couple that the dog might have been impregnated by her chihuahua a few weeks earlier, but added: “she didn’t look pregnant.” Dogs’ gestation period is, on average, nine weeks, meaning Patsy must have given birth just days before she was caught.
“I think because she had given birth it helped her to stay in one place,” Mrs. Reading added. “Patsy is very thin but has a beautiful shine to her coat. She’s settled in again and is doing well. We have put more wire fencing in the garden so we don’t get a repeat of her great escape!”
