Nowt stranger than folk

Today we decided to home in on farms in the area between the Hot Zone and Botcheston, where there are just a handful of unaccounted black lab sightings. Ffion remarked to Tim, after seeing one with American type fencing, that it's funny that this section of the Wild West of Leicestershire reminded her of South Carolina (where her parents live) where there are very impoverished looking homesteads, but she'd never really noticed before becoming Mrs Observant post-Sky disappearance. We chatted to nice farmers, got nowhere, and left a flyer on the gatepost of one such property with barbed wire and no access.
An hour later the phone rang and excerpts from the conversation include "they're attracted to my place, stray dogs" "I saw a black labrador yesterday but thought it belonged to the gipsies who've put stables next to my fields" "he'll be alive - the chicken farm throws out carcasses all the time, he'd love that, they don't like the sanitised meat us humans put out for them" and in and amongst this wandering conversation "sometimes I keep the strays for a bit - no point taking the to kennels, they charge you know" and (honestly) "they dump dead dogs on this lane all the time you know. I buried 3 dogs last week. In plastic bags often, they are". Ffion maintained a calm voice, ascertained none of the 3 dogs was a black labrador, but established that the man may have seen a black lab a couple of times in the last few months.
This inspired Tori and Ffion to head back out and do more research. The black lab from yesterday did indeed belong to the stables people. All other farms knew about Sky but hadn't seen anything - although they thought now was a good time, now they're getting back out on the land after quite a harsh winter.
Ho hum!
Oh yes - lovely footage from the kennel camera of a yellow lab scoffing Sky's food and being dragged off by 4 young walkers. Amazing how it's always the labs find the food. Well all except one....

Time to take stock

No calls today. Food untouched on kennel.
Not heard from the bloodhound club secretary - Ian from Bournemouth has sent her a message but thinks she might be doing the bloodhound show in Bedfordshire.
Have spoken to a lovely lady called Kate from the Rugby area who has trials dogs (border collies) who are excellent at tracking humans. They've not tried tracking another dog before now though. The paw prints are still there at the Lount but there's been a steady wind since Wednesday and although Kate is prepared to give it a go tomorrow morning, we feel that with no food gone, the best case scenario is that Meg the dog picks up a scent but eventually it will lead nowhere, she could get stressed, and we will be using up Kate's time, when it may be better "saved up" for another sighting.
We feel there's no point in setting the trap at the moment either, until either the food has gone for a few days or there are more sightings.
With only 6 days until we depart to New Zealand we need a bit of a think through various scenarios.
For the first time in many weeks we have a clear weekend to prepare.

White noise

Am sitting here with a headache, enjoying my retreat to a quiet room! (Ffion)
I seem to have been on the phone all day and have just spent a couple of hours driving my cheeky Jeepy (I reckon its headlights and grill look like a face :-0 ) with a very noisy metal trap in the back, up from Toddington Services on the M1 after meeting the very lovely and helpful Martyn Soar, who has a good reputation for tracking and trapping dogs. Thanks for the contact, Jon & Shelley.
We exchanged information and apparently chicken covered in garlic butter, or KFC chicken (hmmm would have to abandon my battery chicken morals there) are favourite lures. Sue at doglost.co.uk recommends camouflaging the trap this time around. Will do.
The trap at a local rescue centre is out on loan, hence my 3 hour jaunt, leaving Tim, and Rod (blog follower) running the course I was meant to be doing all day. It's OK, I was only in the audience - not even a walk on part.
Phone calls today were just white noise I think, none from the Hot Zone:
Numerous calls back and fore sorting out logistics this morning, talking to dog trainers to find one that can follow scents (more calls to make this evening - had to put that on hold since it wasn't looking possible to get yesterday's fresh scent followed today - but useful to be prepared from now on, if it is possible). Thanks to Tori for helping with calls.
2 calls for Heskey the black lab who wanders up to Ibstock High St.
1 call for a heavy set lab with a blue collar in Enderby.
1 call for a black lab with a scar on its back in Hamilton, Eastern outskirts of Leicestershire, 2 weeks ago (seen our ad in the Mercury today). Scar described as 2 inches, parallel or along spine, with pink skin. So doesn't match up (see picture below). Slim lab, off lead but appeared to be with a man. For the moment we may have to park that but it may be worth a trip there at the weekend to see if any local dog walkers recognise the description.
In the meantime:
Tori tracked down a black lab from a farm in Newbold Verdon for us!
Pat my housekeeper took Ben (Sky's friend) to scent around the kennel which we've now relocated to the Lount. I've checked the food this evening but it's untouched. Pete and Bren put food in a bowl in their garden (remember they'd seen a black lab in their garden a couple of times in December so we did a feeding station and camera there in January, which yielded Mr Badger only). Their house is in the HZ.
Plan for tonight:
Call a lady back who may be able to help with the scenting, and discuss strategy for if we get another sighting / what to do with the trap.
Oh and take some paracetamols.......

Hot zone reinstated as truly hot

I don't want to get too excited but the hot zone which went quiet 6 weeks ago and therefore became the cold zone, is hot again after a sighting at 12.30 in the Lount area by the brook - the same as the infamous day when we all gave chase (not knowing this was the wrong thing to do), including some walkers who also saw the black lab.
The lady who called has seen him several times (most but not all of which we knew about! - they are on the sightings log in one of the comments we posted further down the Blog starting with the 2nd day he was missing when a black lab came and sniffed her collies then ran off). She thinks this is the 4th time, always running! She watched him for 5 mins in the distance out of her top windows and after calling me, set sail in her car but he ran off faster than she could catch up. Probably just as well as we don't want to make him feel hunted. Sadly though, she didn't get close enough to confirm or refute a scar. Aaaggghh!
No accounting for another black lab other than a loose one, after 2 hours of combing the area. Thanks to Geoff for piling into his car at a second's notice again! Sympathy to Tori and Tim, stuck in Birmingham / Manchester respectively at meetings.
However no other sightings this afternoon since that time (it's now 17.10). Ffion and Ann the dog warden followed the paw prints in the mud to exactly the same place as where the walkers were that day so Ffion has moved the kennel to this spot.
Ann doesn't have a trap. Ours was stolen as you all know. So we might ask the tracking and trapping expert from Lincs for help. I am also going to ring the man with the bloodhound from Bournemouth who Jon & Shelley recommended. Strike while the iron's (or scent's) hot!
Where does he go inbetween times?
Could he be Botcheston dog? It's 5 miles as the crow flies, from the eastern edge of the hot zone.
I did the houses around the road from Friday's Botcheston sighting (that was last night's phone call) and there are 2 black labs, neither of which wander, and both of which are of heavy build.
Thanks to Esmond and Ally who did the edge of Botcheston which borders that area and discovered that lots of people knew about Sky (good thing) but hadn't seen a black lab (bad thing) but equally couldn't account for it by a local dog (good thing).
Hmmm
Will we ever get out of this nightmare?
If anyone has help to offer tomorrow / Friday please text me on the number above or email ffion.davies@doctors.org.uk as Tim and I are meant to be on a 2-day course (local fortunately) and could do with a plan A, plan B and plan C for whatever phone calls arise. Thanks

2 leads are better than none

2 calls today.

A phone call from Rugby about a Black Lab found. It took Ffion quite a while to untangle the phone calls (the initial phone call came from a lady who was told about the dog by a friend). Eventually detective Ffion spoke to the lady who found the dog, established that it was probably not Sky and that the Dog Warden had been called so if it were, we would know as soon as the dog was scanned.

Second call 10pm. Black lab sniffing around verge by side of road last Friday morning on the Markfield Lane going from Botcheston to Markfield, just by the first row of (4 or 5) houses - Meadow View Rd, not far from Kirby Grange nursing home. This corresponds with a call 3-4 weeks ago from the same place that Tim didn't get to the bottom of. Ffion will go there on her way to work in the morning and see if there's anyone to ask.

We are putting this ad in the papers in Leicester, Nottingham and Birmingham this week, hoping that people in these areas will check out all Black Labradors even if they are with someone.

Camera on Green Lane is still in action, but nothing interesting recorded and nobody is eating the food. It is very much easier to service the camera and feeding station now as it is staying light so much later - but this is also very depressing as it emphasises just how long he has been gone.

We have been following the trials that Shelley and Jon have been going through looking for their lost dog Jacob. Such a co-incidence that they are getting reports from very close to where we used to live near Bishop's Stortford. We so hope that they get some firm leads. Their support and understanding has really kept us going.http://missingbraccojacob.blogspot.com/

Rocky road

Today saw 3 phone calls in quick succession, all about Rocky, it turned out - but reassuring that as soon as a black lab pops out on his own, people are switched on.
The Parcelforce man (caller no.2) had pinched one of our posters so he could keep driving but ring us at the same time!
Not sure if we should say something to Rocky's owner. It seems a bit unfair that people are going out of their way to react, when he really needs to keep the dog from wandering. Of course they're genuinely disappointed when I say "you mean near the scout camp? "yes" - Oh sorry that will be a dog belonging to a nearby house who's taken it into his head to wander lately. Other people are desperate to find our dog for us.
Tim went back to A42/A511 hotel and McDonald's the other day. Seems like a black labrador cross with a name tag saying "Mill Lane" has been hanging around, which may explain the sightings. We tried "mill lane" on various searches and the nearest we could find was around 10 miles away in 2 directions (Loughborough and Stoke Golding area). There was no match on any of the lost dog websites we could find, so we gave up. Bit frustrating - we sincerely hope there isn't a desperate owner out there who hasn't "blitzed" the internet and media like we have.
We have decided to relaunch adverts in the local press - Messengers, Leicester Mercury, Coalville / Hinckley / Coventry Times with the suggestion of "possibly stolen" in case he's sitting on someone's sofa being fed caviar (thanks Paula for putting more posters along the canal and telling us about Holly who went missing for a week and was found scoffing smoked salmon at someone's house!)
Ffion managed an hour in the garden yesterday and then Paul the farmer in his mid-20's who had turned up to cut our hedges, had to shift from foot to foot and look uncomfortable as he mentioned Sky, prompting yet another avalanche of tears. Poor Paul!
Meanwhile we cross fingers for Jon & Shelley with another possible sighting.

Nice day to be outside

C'mon Sky. Today was a beautiful day and you should be out enjoying the sunshine, prompting some phone calls.
No such luck.
Tripe sticks by the kennel untouched. Technical problems with the camera.
The hunt was in the "hot zone" today. didn't seem to make any difference. Although the "hot zone" now seems to be the "cold zone".
No information back from the police.
Life in the Coats household seems to take on a different phase. Ffion worked on project work by the computer all day. Tim caught up with chores outside. Paul the farmer came to cut our hedges. Tomorrow need to buy seeds, do some sowing, cut back the raspberries - for Ffion this is venturing into our lovely 6 acres for the first time since Sky went missing. It has felt impossible to be outside without him up to now. Tomorrow will be quiet a psychological step for Ffion.
Thanks to Val today for replacing some of the Barlestone posters, to help dispel the myth that he is found.
I really wish better luck for Jon and Shelley. It's hard to stop actively doing something and just lie in wait, hoping the network will work, and the phone will ring.

white van man

Sharp-eyed Bren spotted a white van similar (possibly identical?) to the one parked in the lay-by on Monday when the trap was stolen, in exactly the same spot this afternoon, with a scruffy looking man there. This time we got the licence number. Thanks Bren!
Pete called me and I called the police but haven't heard back. The van left before the police could have got there but I'd hope they'd run the licence plate through their system and if they found lots of previous criminal records would find some excuse to "pop by" in the next day or two.
I have a little dream that in this person's address they find our Sky, and this person is sabotaging us just to get us off his trail.

No phone calls from the hotel or McDonald's. Sounds like this was yet another red herring.

One of receptionists today cut out a bit from a newspaper where a family in Montana USA lost their retriever who darted after some deer, and 6 months later after a Montana winter (which would make ours look like a little cold snap) he popped up and was reunited with them. No-one could account for where he'd been or how he'd survived. Now I know Leicestershire isn't rural in a Montana kind of a way, but still there's hope. Very nice of our receptionist to think of us and try to cheer us up.

ticking over

Not much to report - Tim called back into work last night so from morningtime yesterday only saw home 23.00 - 01.00 and 05.30 - 08.30. It's so hard doing Sky stuff as well as a more-than-full-time job, but every time I pine for him it spurs me on.
Hedges were cut yesterday and kennel now sticking out like a sore thumb.

Tim moved it and forgot to reset the camera.

Ffion teaching all day long.

8pm trek to right the camera but forgot to snaffle the memory card to have a look.

Can't seem to string thoughts together enough to complete a simple task, we're so tired.

Had to call poor Darren to tell him his trap is stolen. He just said how sorry he was for us, which made us feel even worse that he was so understanding....!

Thanks to Rachel who chatted up builders outside the hotel, and McDonald's staff today, and left a trail of publicity but sadly found no firm leads.

We are wary that Barlestone folk are potentially getting a bit complacent and attributing every black lab sighting to George so if Tim has time in the morning he'll drop some posters off for Val. Can't ask him his schedule - he's snoring on the sofa! Better go and rescue him before he wakes up with a bad neck.

Sex and fast food

2 phone calls today.
First Barlestone, just off Manor Rd. A black lab has been hanging around all day, and there's a bitch in heat nearby. We suspect George, since he has a well known healthy sexual appetite, and Sky hasn't a clue. Also it's very suburban and if the dog had a scar on its back I think we'd have had more calls plus something more definite. Anyway Pat and Carmen are on the lookout and asking people.
Second was the A511 / A42 junction. A man stopped in a layby on the A444 nr Twycross today, saw our poster, has labs of his own, and remembered 2-3 weeks ago seeing a black lab on 2 occasions hanging around the car park of the Premier Inn on the roundabout nr Ashby Tesco's. There is also a McDonald's there and when Tim went to check it out there is rubbish everywhere, so quite a magnet for a scavenging labrador.
The hotel is closed for refurbishment. The builders and landscapers at the hotel had disappeared for lunch. McD was beserk with screaming children because of half term holidays and the queue was so long Tim gave up as he had to be in work. We will try again in the morning and if there is anything positive will put some posters up. The sighting corresponds with a call from the same area on January 11th and a call from 2 miles away from there Dec 18th, so we want to follow it up.
The police rang Pete today to get more information on the white transit van so it's nice that they're taking the whole thing seriously.

Double blow

Back down again today.
Tori, bless her, has trawled round all farms in the area of the Twycross setting, and found out that there were other sightings at the weekend. Unfortunately in the next farm she went to she discovered a black labrador with a black collar and metal dangling tag who has taken it into his head to search for foxes or just go for a jolly since Xmas, and would go that distance from the farm. He was AWOL sufficiently often last week to match the sightings.
Then between 15.15 and 16.30 this afternoon our trap was stolen.
Tim and Pete had seen it around the 2 o' clock mark. When Tim returned at 16.30 it was gone. Pete had returned home from a trip out around 3ish and saw a white transit van parked in the pull-in. After he unloaded his trailer he decided to drive up to it but the white van had gone and the trap was undisturbed. However an hour later Tim found it gone.
We think that on finding Tim's anchorage which consists of a metal bar with a bolt and padlock they realised they needed bolt cutters or something, nipped off, got the kit, and then stole the cage. They must be quite local to have done all that in that time frame. We have our suspicions (knowing where white vans go in and out the whole time, locally) and have reported it to the police, who were lovely again.
Don't know where to go from here.
Time for lots of Tim and Ffion hugs and a rethink in the morning.

A quiet day

Typical - when you're not rushed off your feet in work and have a day at home, the phone stops ringing.
Thanks to Val and Fay who went brainwashing anyone they could find today.
Thanks to Jo who first rang us on Thursday evening, for ringing back to enquire how we're getting on.
Tomorrow's plan:
Ring Oak FM and get an update out to local listeners.
Ring Ann the dog warden to give her an update and check there's not another black lab reported missing or loose.
Wait for phone calls - the hunt yesterday could have moved him to quite a different area. As people go to work etc they may see posters and we just have to be patient.
The behaviour of Twycross dog is bolder than Green Lane dog. Either it's another dog, or Sky / Green Lane dog is getting more confident or more hungry. Since the description isn't a skinny dog you might (??) hope more confident which would be fantastic, as someone might eventually entice him to them.
Plan to keep the trap going off Barton Lane at the bottom of Green Lane.
Tim put a new kennel up yesterday with an internal camera this time, alongside Green Lane but in a different location from previously. We are aiming for low maintenance - once daily car battery switchover, and tripe stick instead of a dog's dinner. Today 2 out of 4 tripe sticks had gone but the camera had swivelled backwards! Hope to catch footage tonight / tomorrow. Mr Foxy is under suspicion right now.

Dog calls, like buses, all come at once

Why do you have 2 and a half weeks of silence then get 6 black lab phone calls in a 30 hour period in 1) south of Newbold (Rocky again) Fri morning 2) Arnold's Cres Newbold Fri morning (2 miles north of (1), definitely different dog but unaccounted for - thanks to Geoff for scrambling) 3) Barlestone outside the Co-op Fri evening (sniffed the lady's shopping, she thinks too dark to see scar, we think she would have, described as very thin with loose collar). Wearing a collar so not George our well known wandering Sky impersonator in Barlestone!
Meanwhile back on the Twycross trail, the massive effort today by Tim, Tori and Rachel is paying off. There is definitely a black lab on the loose. Tuesday afternoon he was seen halfway to Sheepy Magna. A man working outside his house heard a car door shut and a car drive off on a very quiet road, which is unusual, so looked up and saw a black lab barking at the car and then ran off. Described as average build; healthy. Not close enough to see scar and not sure about collar. He rang as soon as Rachel put the leaflet through the door.
On same lane Thurs evening, just before the lady who called us on Thurs saw him, another young woman driving home from work saw him in almost the same spot, slowed down, he looked at her, she had 2 cars pull up behind and there was nowhere to pull in, so had to drive on. She told her dad as she wanted to go back, and he called us today as soon as Tori put a leaflet through the door!
Definitely the same dog but she said he certainly wasn't thin. However she's adamant that it's Sky from looking at the leaflet. Describes a dark collar and metal tag dangling.
Does he look bigger because he has a thick coat and has a good food source?
Was the dog dumped out of the car on Tuesday or did the car stop to try and catch him?
Is it Henry the mild mannered janitor............? (sorry getting carried away now)

Spreading the word

So today was a binge on the poor residents of Twycross.
Quite good awareness which on the one hand is reassuring, but on the other is depressing if it doesn't generate phone calls. Also I called back the lady who saw the dog last night and got depressed when I enquired about its build which was "wasn't exactly underfed" and we know Sky is normally slim and should be I suppose even more so right now.
However the dog walkers and farmers which Tori and I accosted today couldn't account for a loose black lab in any other way, so maybe??
Thanks to Rachel who also helped blast the residents of Sheepy Magna today.
We got lots of schoolchildren interested, which is bound to be a good thing with half term next week.
The countryside is very open and rural with lots of copses and outbuildings, so ideal for a Sky. Most of the farmland is Crown Estate, so at least our dog has good taste and high standards.
The lady at the zoo lost her dog for 4 years then got it back because of its microchip. Please Sky, don't do that to us.... to be fair it was stolen, and turned up in a rescue centre in London. Not quite the same.
Tomorrow Val, Pete, Fay and husband, and Rachel are off walking and accosting with flyers. Tori and Tim are postering and chatting. I'll be in work wishing I wasn't.
Can I just mention 2 things? Jon & Shelley's new blog about missing Jacob
http://missingbraccojacob.blogspot.com/
Please support them with words of encouragement - it helps, honest.
Also locally there is a rescue Rottweiler called Ben, aged 6-8, who is blind and needs a good home. All he wants is cuddles. He looks gorgeous in the photos and needs lots of love. Let me know if you think anyone can help. I want him. Tim says no right now, because I'd have to give up work. If you all do a petition, Tim might change his mind ;-)

At last - another sighting!

The silence is broken and yes, he's moved slightly to another area where we have less publicity.
Around 5.30pm this evening a lady driving home travelling north from Sheepy Magna coming into Twycross saw a black lab running down the road. She stopped the car and got out and he went into the field on the right. She got within 6 feet of him to try to catch him, he barked and ran away. She describes a metal collar (not right - Sky's is black leather with a metal buckle) and a tag. However we know from tracking down other dogs that precise collar descriptions are not always accurate.
She told a friend who walks to Congerstone with her dog who'd seen our publicity and drove to where she knew there was a poster and called me with her friend's mobile number. So the system works!
For those who aren't from around these parts, this represents a move westwards of around 3 miles so no surprise. It's very rural.
So volunteers are needed for tomorrow if anyone's free?
Shops, pubs, footpaths, village noticeboards need posters (we have one in the middle of Twycross and one in the middle of Sheepy and that's it).
Need to put flyers in doors of anyone with any sizeable property or on the edge of the village.
Need to chat to people to see if anyone's noticed a black labrador.
Need to walk the couple of footpaths leading east out of Twycross.
Obviously it's important we don't swamp the area and scare him off so if people could call me on my mobile 07951-722747 I can co-ordinate. Please avoid 10-11am as I'm supposed to be on a teleconference to London, but at the rate I'm going I'm too excited and may ditch it!
Ann our dog warden fortunately covers that area too, and will go out there tomorrow. If we get any more sightings she has a 2nd trap we can deploy.
I'm also going to pop in to the vet to see if they know of dogs who've just given birth. Ann says the smell of new pups and milk is highly interesting and could entice him into a trap.
Lastly Ann says she's had a few dogs turn up at Twycross Zoo, as if it's the animal smells or the food which attacts them!! I'm going to the Zoo tomorrow (my favourite local place anyway) and if I see young Sky snuggled in with the monkeys he'll be told off.
Ffion

Dogs are survivors

So today we've put a juicy shoulder of lamb in the trap, the sun is out for the next few days, and not much snow forecast. Come on Sky - time to come out of your hidey hole!
Had a really useful chat with Martin Soar, a dog tracking and trapping expert this evening. Really heartening for him to say that it just goes like this, and there's a good chance he'll pop up again. He said what we thought - in this weather he won't be out and about much. Also that they really do survive on what little food is around the countryside even at this time of year.
We seem to be doing all the right things otherwise. We just need to keep the publicity up so that people report things and don't get "lazy".
We perhaps need to widen the publicity field as the dog's territory can be 15 miles wide.
In case any bloggers think we're completely nuts, I'll post a comment below with the log of the most likely sightings (one offs and unlikelys weeded out). They total 22! The log of the first week was only put together as a jigsaw 3 weeks or more later, as people started to know about Sky and say something. Such a shame - those were the crucial days when we stood the best chance.
Jon & Shelley in Saffron Walden are going through the same turmoils as us. Tried to go for a pub lunch but just felt guilty they weren't driving around looking for Jacob. They're doing a blog too, as it's a great way for everyone to stay up to date. We cross fingers and hope for them.

Rocky taken back home

We had a call about a lost Black Lab at lunch time today. It didn't sound like Sky (described as heavyset with a blunt face), but we went to have a look. Ffion spotted him behind a copse - it was amazing how he completely disappeared by the time we had stopped and turned round. Ffion went on foot and I drove to cover both sides of the wood. She spotted him and went into the "how to attract a lost dog" routine (thanks to Sue from dogslost.co.uk).  Ffion didn't look straight at him, talked softly and showed a biscuit. Then she started to walk away and the dog ran up to her.

Rocky had his phone number on a tag on his collar so was soon taken home (the offer of a biscuit made him jump straight into our car!).

So although the dog was not Sky it was a great opportunity to practice our techniques for approaching a wary dog. The radios worked well to co-ordinate activity, the method of approach seemed very good and we also learned the importance of pausing to calm the dog once he was on a lead.

So we are happy Rocky is home, re-assured that we are still getting calls about Black Labs, but sad that we have had no sightings of Sky for two and a half weeks. 

Kennel stolen

More bad news. Ffion refreshed the food at both kennels around 11.30. Picture of yellow lab scoffing the lot at one of them 17.30 yesterday. Drove off to perch on a vantage point and do some work on her laptop for 2 hours. Returned 14.45 to find kennel half way up Green Lane stolen.
The bowl and food, the ball, the laminated poster explaining what we're doing, and the 2 large pieces of plywood to weather proof it were all lying in the snow. Large footprints (similar to the ones by the trap?) in a circle near it (fresh since Ffion was there earlier).
The Green Lane gets a lot of fly tipping (amongst other activities) so the 2 events may be unconnected and this time it's simple theft.
They got 2 pairs of yesterday's smelly socks for free too...........
Time for a strategy think this evening when Tim gets in from work.

Forward march!

Hello bloggers
There's a couple in Cambridgeshire, Jon & Shelley Haggerwood, who are in the same boat as us after losing their Bracco Italian hound, who had their story in national press yesterday (thanks Pete & Bren for spotting it). They are "7 weeks behind us" but are at the point we were at the 3 week mark (Jacob went missing 21 Jan). It was good to share notes and sympathies, and I suppose for them to know that they are not the only ones, although that doesn't help much does it.
Jon gave me 2 excellent contacts for 1) a man whose bloodhound has a track record (excuse the pun) for finding other dogs and 2) Canine Search & Rescue who have an experienced person to help us at the stage we are at.
In return I offered them some strategies for a sighting (the walkie talkies, map with vantage points, call-out list for help, etc that we've developed) and suggested a Blog, as it's so useful as a way of everyone being in touch.
Good luck Jon and Shelley! Jacob - get out there and be seen!

Men in boots

Thanks to everyone for you kind comments of sympathy and to pick us up.

This morning we reported the damage to Leics police and have a crime reference number etc. They were very helpful and supportive. We called Mr Dobson whose land we have the trap on, who was very sympathetic and hasn't asked us to move it. We may do, but at least we haven't upset him.

Current theories:

1. Is there hare coursing planned for this weekend? A week ago the camera caught someone aiming a gun away from the trap. At 16.37 yesterday 2 men in wellies were standing looking at the trap. We only have pictures from the thighs down.

2. Someone still thinks we are trapping badgers (remember we had the RSPCA call us a week ago because someone reported us thinking that we were)? We called the RSPCA to ensure that they clarify that we are not (if they had the caller ID which they don't in fact insist upon).

3. Is there someone who is an animal rights sympathiser or activist who doesn't realise that the whole point of the trap is to get Sky safe, away from dangerous roads and freezing nights, and the whole point of the camera is so we spot a captured wild animal straight away and can release it?

Anyway we will keep the camera away for a few days - Pete and Bren are being brilliant about checking the trap in between our visits.

The top photo is the last image caught last night - shows the lights of a vehicle which has just drawn up. Footprints of three men are in the snow circling around out of range of the camera and then across to do the damage.

The next photo of two men was at 16:37, no idea who they are.

The top image was caught last week - maybe we are getting in the way of some poaching.

-7 in temperature and mood

Just got in at 11pm and -7C outside and I think we're at our lowest point in this whole story.
The camera failed this evening so I drove out to check it and the trap just now, only to find the whole set-up smashed up by someone. Nothing appears to have been stolen (eg camera / laptop) so I am suspicious that maybe the person who reported us to the RSPCA still doesn't understand what we are doing and is trying to stop us. I had last checked it at dusk (5.45pm). The last picture was at 19.23. Nobody in sight in that one.
Tim is still in work so I called him to tell him.
Combined with 2 days of no food going from the kennels and no fresh leads on sightings, it's a sad moment.
Tomorrow we'll have a rethink of strategy when we're less upset and tired, and are able to check the equipment over in daylight. Doug your laptop looks to be undamaged. Hopefully on its hard drive are the 19.22 and 19.21 shots.
Thanks to Elaine, Peter and family who've offered to do a walk in the "hot zone" on Sunday. Thanks to Ken, South Carolina, USA, who called tonight just to support us. Ken knows what it feels like to have a dog vanish.

A quiet Wednesday

Technology working great at last. However nothing to report despite nice crispy, dry, sunny Sky-type-of-a-day!
No food gone from either kennel. Nothing on either camera.
No new paw prints in the vicinity of the kennels or trap.
No sightings.
Tori managed to cover an hour or so for us of the south end of Green Lane at "prime time" (1-2pm) but no walkers, no dogs............
Just a barn owl hunting across our field at home at 7 a.m. which was beautiful to watch.

Initial Excitement

Yesterday was the first day with a motion sensitive camera at one of the feeding stations and you can imagine how excited we were when we first saw this video recorded at 13:20. However just in the last few frames we can see a person (probably female) coming into view and the black lab runs towards her. She is too far away to see our notice asking any dog owner to text us if their dog eats the food. There were another 5 clips in addition to this one, and we had convinced ourselves that there was a scar on this dog's back, although the definition on the video is not really good enough to be 100% sure.

So to put our minds at rest we will now be hanging around the Green Lane in the early afternoons to see if the lady walks her dog here again!

Anyway the good thing is that we are able to see who is eating the food so we will know if the food disappearing is something or nothing.

Tuesday's greedy labs caught red-handed

We've set up a camera on one of the 2 kennels with great success(ish): 3 labradors (no other breed, surprise, surprise!) all came and helped devour the bowl full of food. Well at least the system's working. So we've topped up the bowl, emptied the memory card and reset it to see how many other guzzlers come by.
The Barton Lane near the trap had fresh dog paw prints without human prints this morning at 0800 (there were also badger prints) but they veered back onto the road at the gap where the kennel is, missing it out!! We're pretty sure they aren't fox prints. I even added some goat's cheese to the roast joint in there last night for extra whiffiness. Hmmm...
You'll see the time and date in the top left of the webcam picture now, since it seems to not want to load the bottom part of the picture at times. It's probably objecting to the minus 5C temperatures, which is fair enough.
Should we move the trap closer to the kennels? The advice seems to be to sit tight at the moment. It can take this long for a dog to feel comfortable around it.
One call to Botcheston today, not tracked down, but the black Lab had a green collar. One to just keep in mind.

Can we spot a black dog in a snowstorm?

Heroic efforts in the snowstorm by Tori today. She checked the feeding stations at 12:30, and the food was untouched. However at 4:30 both bowls had been licked clean (banana gone as well as the meat and tripe sticks). Some vague animal footprints, but was snowing so much that they were not clear. no human prints. I will set up a camera on one of the feeding stations tomorrow to see what we can record (this will not be on the web as it is more basic technology).

The trap has had no activity - the trap camera has been a bit temperamental, but is working most of the time. Even if you cannot see the images on the web we can usually get to see a picture, but if the images are uploading you will see them at http://dougellison.com/cam/refresh_norm.html

We are becoming more interested in a disused railway line that is about a mile north of the Green Lane - this dog must be going somewhere when it disappears from sight for days on end. It is rarely visited and has lots of good dens (old signal boxes etc). I plan to go there tomorrow and see if there are any tracks in the snow.