Chalfont St Peter owners hold out hope for missing dog

Three-year-old terrier Mouse went missing while on a walk on the grounds of Gerrards Cross Golf Club on December 3, initially sparking a village-wide search that grew to county level after months without news.

Countless searches of the area, as well as in owners Anne and Steve Maynard’s home of Chalfont St Peter, have characterised the last six months, alongside an extensive and wide-ranging social media campaign which has yet to turn up any trace of her.

However, Anne, 63, said they are no closer to giving up than they were the week after Mouse disappeared, and while they now believe that she was stolen, the couple are still hopeful that each new sighting could signal her safe return home.

“I won’t ever give up. It’s become something we’ve had to live with, but it hasn’t got any easier. When I post photos of her on Facebook, I can never look her in the eye – it gives me a lump in my throat every time.

“If I saw her again, I think my heart would burst. All of her things are bagged up and we keep them in the garage because I can’t bear to see them every day, but I won’t get rid of it.

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“I still wake up at 1am to messages from people saying, ‘Is this your dog?’ It’s something that never leaves me. There have been two or three times when I was sure it was her, but it wasn’t. Your mind always goes to the worst case scenario - I just hope she's alright.

She said Steve, who was walking Mouse in Gerrards Cross on that fateful Sunday morning, “lives the day over and over”, wondering if he could have done something different – left a few minutes earlier or taken a different route.

“He took her out early because we were going to go Christmas shopping in Windsor in the afternoon. Everything was so wonderful back then – and we didn’t end up having a Christmas last year, we didn’t want to.”

If there’s one silver lining to the couple’s “awful” last six months, it is the overwhelming level of support, locally and further afield.

Anne said people she didn’t know before Mouse went missing have “dropped everything” to help the search effort, creating a network across Buckinghamshire and beyond of people looking for any sign of the “lovely” terrier.

“I can’t believe it’s been six months. The people around me are staying so positive and telling me that some dogs are found after they’ve been missing for years. It’s about keeping that hope alive – there’s always a chance that she’ll come back home.”