Diego the dog found safe after 9-hour Ashworth Moor journey

Diego, a 9-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was on his regular walk over Ashworth Moor on Wednesday (27 February) with his owner, Jackie Pelt, and her partner, Sonia Chadwick when he ran off.

Taking their usual route over the moors, Diego was let off his lead like always. However, this time, he decided to go for an adventure of his own.

Sonia, who was walking Diego with her and Jackie’s two other dogs, said: “It took us 9 hours to find Diego over ‘Owd Betts’.

“Even now, days after, we are still thinking how did we do it?

“Being crazy dog/animal lovers, we didn’t give up, even in the dead of night. With torches in hand and risking our own lives across unknown terrain, we traipsed the moors following the GPS tracker he was wearing.

“He started off at Table Top at Owd Betts then went to the wind turbines on the other side.

“The tracker showed us that he had stayed in the same spot for five hours, so we were thinking the worst – he had been seriously injured or had even died.

“When we got to where we thought he was we split up, looking high and low, and eventually we found him near Naden Brook.

“Thankfully, his harness was reflecting off our torches so we could spot him.

“We were absolutely ecstatic.”

Diego’s ‘TrackiSafe’ GPS tracker by Vodafone is located in his collar and notified Jackie and Sonia of his location every time he moved. When he made movement, they were alerted of his location via a mobile app connected to the tracker.

Sonia continued: “He is a bit of a wanderer, that’s why we got the tracker in the first place, but he’s never ventured off like that before. He suffers from arthritis and doesn’t even try to chase the sheep like our other two dogs.

“We only got the tracker four days before it happened, and we’re so glad we did.

“We want to tell Diego’s story so people know it is so worth getting a GPS tracker for their pet. We never would have found him if we didn’t.”