Mr Towers received ''seven or eight'' phone calls yesterday from people reporting possible sightings of Shelby, a 3-year-old tan and white Boxer cross, including two in the suburb of St Clair.
One woman had arrived back to her home in Cliffs Rd, St Clair, at 4pm on Thursday to find a dog matching Shelby's description digging through her rubbish bag.
''It sounds like it might have been Shelby. At least she's got the brains to open up a few rubbish bags and go shopping.''
Mr Towers said Shelby might be ''going to ground'' during the day, and emerging at night, but he would keep looking.
''We've just gone out and smattered a whole lot more areas again with flyers and stuff. We'll just keeping looking until we find her,'' Mr Towers said.
Mr Towers' family moved to Dunedin from Auckland earlier this year to start a new life, but their plans had been on hold since Shelby's disappearance from their Tunnel Beach Rd property last Thursday.
Mr Towers said the public response so far had been ''really, really good''.
''People in Dunedin are extremely nice.
''We made the right choice, no two ways about that - apart from losing the dog.''
