Sophie reunited with owner after a week lost in Cooley Mountains

Sophie, the Springer Spaniel who had been missing in the Cooley mountains for a week, was found on Sunday morning and reunited with her owner.

Sophie went missing on Sunday 29th January when she was walking with courier David Keane from Swords on the Táin Way.

There had been a search planned for Sunday morning, with a large crowd gathered to help find the missing pooch but shortly before it was due to start, David got a call from a local man to say he had found the dog on the Omeath side of the mountain.

There was great excitement when Sophie, who survived a week missing in the mountains, was reunited with David and her owner Jackie.

David met Sophie while delivering to her owner Jackie and after finding out Jackie was not in a position to walk her and that she had not been walked for two years, decided to start taking her out on hikes and delivery runs.

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“Sophie is my apprentice in the van,” he said.

“At first when Jackie met me, I was just a random courier offering to walk her dog, but Jackie quickly took a shine to me and trusted me to take Sophie out and look after her.

“It wasn’t long before Sophie and I became joined at the hip and I would tell people that she was working security in the van with me.

“Sophie has been more than just a dog to me. She has been great company. She’s been a counsellor with a collar on her and has provided me with so much positivity over the last couple of months.”

Sophie went missing while the two were walking in the Slieve Foy area of the Táin Way and David quickly set about organising a search party to find her via social media, aiming to make her the “most recognised dog in this country” and calling on people to help in her search on Sunday morning.

On Saturday night David camped in the mountains, laying the foundation for the search and cooking everything from Superquinn sausages to beef stir-fry in the hope the smell would track downwind and draw Sophie towards him.

“She was found less than two kilometres from where I was camping actually so she maybe caught the scent of the food, I had cooked a load of chicken and Superquinn sausages and beef stir-fry as well and it was done with the hope that all that smell would go downwind.

“So potentially that’s what happened and we’ll never know, but I’d love to hear Sophie’s side of the story,” he laughs.

“She was within three kilometres from where she initially went missing from, we were very lucky she stayed within that range for that long.”

Remarkably, Sophie was found in reasonably good condition.

“There wasn’t a bother on her, she was happy out, there wasn’t a scratch on her, her harness was a little bit loose and she had an empty belly but apart from that.”

Sophie is now safe at home with her owner Jackie and when the Democrat talked to David, he was just on his way to visit them.

“I was up with them last night and I’m heading over there soon and might take her for a walk if Jackie allows me.

“She may not let me take her out until I get a GPS tracker on her though!”