A family who thought they’d lost their beloved Rottweiler Ralph where amazed and overjoyed to discover him at the bottom of a 6ft drain in their neighbours garden.
Martha Pedley, her two sisters Grace and Ruby and father Andrew were left distraught and puzzled after Ralph vanished after taking a wee outside.
For almost a full day the panicked group searched high and low for three-year-old Ralph and considered him missing from their Cheshire home.
However, he hadn’t gone far at all and was instead stuck at the bottom of their neighbours 6.5 feet deep drain just 15 feet away from where he was last seen.
The panicked pooch had been too shocked to make a noise after his sudden fall so had waited patiently to be found for almost a full day.
Martha, 24, said: ‘The poor boy was down there for around 22 hours and luckily as far as the vets can tell, he has suffered no physical injuries.
‘He never made a sound, even when we were standing over the drain when we eventually found him.
‘We were told he was probably in shock and that’s why he never made a noise.’
In heartwarming video footage, the family’s clear relief at getting Ralph out of his hole is obvious to see.
And amazingly, Martha and her family are still none the wiser as to how he got there.
She continued: ‘He was let out for a wee around 7pm and he seemed to have just vanished.
‘Panic set in as we searched the grounds with the house and couldn’t see him or hear him.
We started to think that he had been stolen, we had a phone call from a random number saying they had him when in fact it was all a hoax.
‘There are some sick people about.
The sweet moment Ralph was freed from the drainage hole was captured on camera
Ralph was checked over by a vet following the incident and given the all clear
‘I made a WhatsApp group and Facebook group for people to post any sightings which grew to over 400 members in a couple of hours.
‘I believe if I hadn’t of gone this way about it we never would have found him, we didn’t know who to contact as the dog warden number wasn’t monitored on a weekend when it happened.
‘It was one of the hardest times we’ve been through as a family, not knowing where he was made us all worried sick.
‘He was eventually found by an amazing volunteer group in the grounds of the property he was staying in, down an uncovered drain.
‘It was around 15ft from where he went missing.’
After his lengthy confinement, Ralph was checked over by vets and given the all clear.
Martha thanked the Lost Dog Capture Team charity – a group of volunteers who helped with the search effort and who eventually found Ralph as well as her friend Annie Chappell who helped with the social media.