26-year-old Codie Hutton said she had her pet Springer Spaniel, Maisie, in the car with her on Saturday, November 5, near Woodbridge, Suffolk when the dog was spooked by fireworks and jumped out of the vehicle.
For two long days, she frantically looked for Maisie while asking people to help her and even camped out in a field where the dog had been spotted but was never able to find her.
She was then told that someone found her pet’s body flattened by a car on a nearby road.
Devastated, Codie took the flattened dog to the vet to scan it for Maisie’s microchip to confirm her identity, however, the vet was not able to find the microchip.
According to Mirror, Codie said, “Just like that, she was gone. It was my worst nightmare. We were convinced from the tail and markings on the legs that it was her.”
She then broke the news to her son Taylen, “I told Taylen she was a star in doggy heaven now. It was devastating.”
Codie and the family ended up burying the dog in her backyard with Maisie’s bed and a photo of the pet with her young son.
The next day Codie started receiving phone calls from friends and locals saying that her nine-year-old Maisie was still alive and spotted about seven miles away in Otley, Suffolk from where she ran off.
On the Tuesday morning, November 8, Maisie was supposedly spotted again and Codie said, “I thought this was someone else’s dog and that Maisie was still buried.”Â
She decided to go out regardless and continue searching for her since someone claimed they spotted her and on Thursday morning a woman managed to take a photo of Maisie providing evidence that she was still alive.
Maisie was tired and hungry but overall, remained relatively unharmed after being lost for five days on her own. She covered more than 17 miles with people sighting her in Melton, Bredfield, Helmingham, and Wickham Market.
Codie also learned that the “dog” she buried in her backyard was actually a fox.
Since the whole ordeal, Codie says she is now trying to raise £600 for Finding Ipswich Dogs Organisation (FIDO) which is an organization that has helped find over 2,000 lost dogs.