By Callum Ludwig
A Wandin North family have been left distraught by the disappearance of one of their beloved family dogs.
Laura Attrill, her husband Stephen and their two kids have been without their 12-year-old Brussels Griffon Ernie since 2pm on Saturday 20 August, with their other Brussels Griffon Fred howling all day for his friend to return.
Ms Attrill said there had been a lot of fascination among the community that Ernie had been stolen.
“I don’t believe he was stolen, I believe he escaped. Whether someone has found him and taken him since then is what I’m questioning. The gate was opened and closed multiple times on Saturday,” she said.
“He’s very clever and he likes to try and go and roll in the neighbouring strawberry fields. But what was strange was that Fred was left behind, we’ve been living here 11 years and they’ve never been separated and the few times they have escaped, they’ve gone together.”
Ernie is wearing a grey and blue collar with a blue camo tag that contains all his details and is microchipped.
Ms Attrill said the experience has been horrific.
“There have just been no plausible sightings, or evidence of his body, which we suspected for a while that someone had accidentally hit him. We’ve done extensive land searches and even had a search party the Sunday after,” she said.
“We searched all the gutters within one to two kilometres of our house and nothing was recovered. We are surrounded by farmers and we did search all the strawberry fields and the aqueduct as well.”
Due to Ernie’s age and desexed status, he would hold little value to dog thieves despite being a rare breed.
The family have letter dropped about 200 homes and door knocked on 100 homes in their search, as well as launched a social media campaign and put posters up around the Wandin North shops.
Ms Attrill said Ernie is a treasured family member.
“There are two kids at home pining for him and the worst part is the other dog Fred that’s been left behind his blind, Ernie was his eyes. It’s horrible to watch,” he said.
“We just need closure at this point. If anyone was to find him, they would need to squat down to his level and call his name in a singsong voice. He’s very submissive and would probably cower and they could pick him up.”
Anyone with information is urged to email lauracoulson1984@hotmail.com
