WHEN Patterdale terrier Scrappy Doo was stolen five years ago, Tom Smith thought he would never see his beloved pet again.

So he was flabbergasted when he got a phone call to say that the pooch had been found tied up to a post outside a hairdresser’s shop in Kinson.

Scrappy Doo, now seven, was taken in by staff at The Hair Studio in Ringwood Road, Kinson, after being spotted tied to a post in the pouring rain last Thursday.

They called the dog warden who scanned her for a microchip, which revealed Mr Smith’s name and address.

A delighted Mr Smith joked: “I couldn’t believe it.

“And the way she’s acting it’s as though she’s never been away.”

The pooch, who used to ride about with Mr Smith everywhere in the car, had given birth to a litter of puppies shortly before vanishing from the garden of her Wareham home.

Mr Smith said: “She had just had puppies and started to wean them off.

“She used to jump into the kennel with the puppies.

“If she was in there we wouldn’t notice her.

“It was only when I went to get in the car I noticed she wasn’t around.

“We spent nearly six months looking for her.

“We assumed that she had been stolen.”

Mr Smith was ill in bed when he got the news that his dog had turned up, he said.

He joked: “I was shocked to be quite honest.

“I’d given up.

“They brought her back and as soon as she saw me she went mad. As soon as she turned into our road she went bananas.

“After all that time you wouldn’t think they’d remember.”

Scrappy Doo is now back to riding in the car with Mr Smith when he goes shopping.

“I used to open the car door and she was in before I could stop her,” he said.

“It got into a habit. She was always my passenger.

“Now she’s back to her old ways.”