Couple Spends 5 Days Camping Outside, Grilling Lost Dog’s Favorite Food

When an English couple’s Chihuahua named Penny went missing, they were devastated. Liam and Kelly (who asked that their last name be omitted) had been out on a walk with Penny in the woods near their house when she got spooked by a cyclist and ran away.

The couple searched high and low for Penny but couldn’t find her anywhere. So they got in touch with missing dog expert Mandy Butler of The Lost Dog Trapping Team, who suggested Penny might return to the area where she initially got lost.

The couple decided to camp out in the woods where they’d lost Penny, just in case she decided to come back. Butler explained that when a dog goes missing, it’s best to concentrate your scent in one area rather than spreading it around and confusing your dog.

Liam and Kelly figured that after Penny’s terrifying experience with the cyclist, she’d need a little enticing to return to the area. So they decided to try an unconventional method for coaxing her out of hiding: cooking her favorite food, sausages.

For five nights, they camped in the woods, continuously cooking sausages, filling the air with the irresistible smell.

But after almost a week had passed, there was still no sign of her, so they tried looking for her in a different area of town. To their surprise, they spotted Penny sitting in the middle of a field. Liam tried to catch her, but she was still so terrified that she ran away from him, out of sight.

They continued working with the dog trapping team to try to find Penny, but days passed, and they still hadn’t caught her. They even watched her go into one of the traps they’d set for her then run away.

“I was really despondent and losing hope,” Kelly told The Dodo.

Then, on Penny’s birthday, the couple got a call that changed everything. A family had heard Penny scratching at their door, asking to be let in. It’s likely that she was confused and thought the house was actually hers, since it looks almost identical to where she lives.

Penny’s parents could not have been more relieved to bring her home. Liam, owner of a tattoo supply company, even got a tattoo of Penny surrounded by sausages to commemorate her return.

“It was like Christmas,” Kelly said. “I just couldn’t sleep. I was so excited.”

As a special treat to celebrate her homecoming, the couple cooked some sausages for Penny to snack on.

“[S]he got the zoomies,” Kelly said. “It was so cute. It’s like she was saying, ‘I finally got my sausage.’”