Kellie and Justin Cooper and her husband live in Aycliffe Village and run the Three Tuns in Eggleston. In September they had a new addition to the family, Levi, a Weimaraner puppy. He is such a character but as well as being adopted as the pub dog he is one of the family. Justin was out walking with him by John Wades Quarry last Tuesday and Levi got spooked after encountering other dogs, bolted and disappeared.
Kellie joined the search and phoned the quarry on the off chance Levi had been seen there. “I fully expected them to be unconcerned, but Carolyn Bell, who answered the phone and her team acted immediately and sent people out in a pick-up truck to look for Levi, contacting the workers and quarry manager David Basham” said Kellie.
Carolyn called with updates and the Ops director Bruce Whitley went through cctv footage and nobody gave up!
The search party grew as a friend, Rachel Townsend Green from Thrive marketing dropped everything and even brought one of her staff to help.
Kellie was convinced someone dishonest must have found him and calls were made to the police, vets, Stray aid, local farmers, local breeders with constant posts on social media all without success. He is micro chipped and collared but his owners were concerned he was injured.
As it was getting dark, Kelly retraced her husband’s route and met Deborah Laing, Engineer from John Wades who walked with her near the spot Levi disappeared. They thought the noise of machinery may have frightened him and he’d attempt to creep out once it was quiet. The quarry staff searched everywhere and CCTV showed he hadn’t crossed any of the major access routes. Justin covered all of the surrounding area on foot and Kellie covered all roads, village and Business Park by car, returning every half hour.
“I had given up all hope, our family was heartbroken and we decided to call it a night, but as I pulled up outside our house for the last time I found Levi sat on our doorstep! He was covered in cuts and scrapes, so we let everyone know. I later received a text from Deborah to say she had heard the news and was thrilled” said Kellie.
Next morning Kellie got a call from Carolyn to say how the whole team were delighted he’d been found. Kellie took Levi down to the Quarry later that day with chocolates and flowers as a thank you and to say sorry for all the worry caused.
Everyone involved in the search were amazing and we can’t thank them enough but the guys at Wades were just brilliant. Although they didn’t actually find Levi, their support, fast thinking and actions were unbelievable. They didn’t know me, my family or Levi, but they really pulled out all of the stops. The staff loved meeting Levi and for us it was lovely to put faces to all those people who helped, for which my family and I will be eternally grateful. Let’s hope next time we see them we’ll be just waving hello, as we walk by and not manning a full scale search and rescue party!” said Kellie.
Bruce Whitley, Carolyn Bell and Deborah Laing with the elusive Levi!
