Couple reunited with dog stolen more than seven years ago (Image: RSPCA/PA Wire)
It was like a “dream come true” for Rita and Philip Potter, who were reunited with their seven years after it went missing.
The couple from Norfolk never lost hope after their dog, Daisy the Labrador, was stolen from their garden in 2017.
The heartbreaking incident sparked social media appeals and a petition urging the government to do more to tackle pet theft.
The dog was eventually found by the which shared the wonderful news with the couple.
Daisy, now 13-years-old, was discovered more than 200 miles away by Kim Walters, an RSPCA inspector who carried out routine investigations in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset on February 2 and found the Labrador with untreated mammary masses.
Daisy the labrador, who was stolen in 2017, is reunited with owner Rita (Image: RSPCA/PA Wire)
The inspector took Daisy to a vet and checked her microchip on which she found contact details for Mr and Mrs Potter.
The couple struggled to hold back tears after Daisy was returned to her former home in Old Buckenham on Thursday.
Mrs Potter, 80, said she and her husband are “so, so grateful” for the RSCPA reuniting them with Daisy, adding their pet will now be given “lots of love and attention”.
She said: “We kept a photograph on the mantlepiece and would look at it every day thinking of her and where she might be. So it is an absolute dream come true that the RSPCA found her and have returned her to us – where she belongs – we are so, so grateful.
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The couple struggled to hold back tears after Daisy was returned to her former home (Image: RSPCA/PA wire)
“We know she is elderly now and has health issues but whatever time she has left she will now be surrounded by lots of love and attention.
“The whole family was so excited to hear the news that my grandchildren went to buy her toys and treats – she also now has not just one – but two comfy beds.”
Mr and Mrs Potter participated in several social media and press appeals to locate Daisy, which earned support from actor Tom Hardy who reshared their post.
The couple also campaigned for the government to do more to tackle pet theft and set up a petition which attracted more than 100,000 signatures.
In 2024, the Government passed the Pet Abduction Act law which could see perpetrators face a maximum five-year prison sentence, a fine, or both.
Ms Walters, the inspector who found Daisy, said she was “a bit choked” after reuniting the dog with her owners and urged anyone with information about the theft to contact the RSPCA or the police.
“I was a bit choked from listening to them and clearly how much they loved her, so it was great telling them that we could get her back home soon once we had made sure she was fit enough to travel and we had arrangements in place for the four-hour journey to take place, ” she said.
Andy Cook, behavioural welfare adviser at the Brent Knoll Animal Centre, the RSPCA branch in North Somerset where Daisy was cared for, said: “It seems Daisy has been used for backyard breeding and she has a number of mammary masses, she has slight hip dysplasia and her coat was quite dirty when she came to us as though she had not been groomed for many years.
“She is quite elderly for a Labrador at the age of 13 and we think she is deaf, but she is adorable.
“She really is the sweetest girl and will wag her tail whenever she sees you but since she was stolen it is clear she has had a hard life.”