Sophie Gough and Joanne Petchey were driving back to Stortford from Buntingford on Sunday evening at about 7.30pm when they came across the young golden Labrador in the middle of the road as they approached the Tesco roundabout.
Two other motorists, one a woman and the other a younger man, had also stopped as Sophie and Joanne pulled over into a layby.
The dog ran off into a field bordering the A1184 Bishops Park Way. The woman who had stopped went after the spooked lab and managed to retrieve her. Sophie and Joanne took the dog home.
A visit to the Bishop’s Stortford Veterinary Hospital in Lindsey Road on Monday revealed that the dog, who is believed to be about a year old, has not been microchipped and therefore her owner cannot be traced directly. Rather than hand her over to be forwarded to the animal warden and kept in a cage, the sisters decided to take her home.
They have been sharing custody since, aided by their own pet dogs, Sophie’s Goose, a seven-year-old working cocker spaniel, and Joanne’s Poppy, a Parson Russell terrier who’s nearly four.
At the same time, they have issued appeals via Facebook to find the dog’s rightful owners. There have been reports of a couple out looking for a lost dog in the Wickham Hall area on Monday.
Sophie believes that the dog – who she has christened Barbara – has escaped from her owners rather than been dumped as she is in good health and well fed.
Meanwhile, Joanne is coming under pressure from eight-year-old son Harry to give Poppy a canine companion at their Rye Street home.
She posted on Facebook on Monday night: “I have been overwhelmed by the support in reuniting this lovely dog with her owners and it’s lovely to see how caring and concerned so many people are.
“So I want to reassure everyone… that we are doing everything we can to find her owners, all authorities are aware, we will not just hand her over without checking if someone claims her and she absolutely will not be without a home if no one does.”
