So far the search of the popular recreation area has detected no traces of the amiable seven-and-a-half-year-old canine, leading her owner Mary McNulty to fear her dog might have been stolen on June 24, the first day of the Matariki long weekend.
"This is a well behaved dog who comes back to a whistle," she said.
"Certainly she goes rabbiting, but I’ve never known her to be gone more than half an hour chasing a rabbit and then she’s back.
"She has never gone missing before, I just wonder if someone has picked her up.
"There were lots of people around, she’s a golden retriever, so she loves people, especially children.
"It’s possible she thought: 'There’s some children I’ll go and talk to them'. But I’d expect her to come back."
Bertie and Reg set off in pursuit, but only the younger dog returned, prompting a search until darkness fell.
Over the long weekend search and rescue dogs and a drone bolstered the hunt as Reg pined back home at Moncks Bay.
"He wouldn’t eat for three days, he was very distressed. He kept looking for his mum," said McNulty, who thanked the community for their ongoing support.
"I’ve got a friend with tracking dogs and he took his out as well.
"We’ve walked in that area, we’ve searched in the area, I don’t know how many times, and how many people.
"We’re heartbroken but the light of that, if you like, is the kindness of people really.
"They’ve turned up and gone for a walk and looked over the edges in case she went off a sheer.
"Between earthquakes and time there’s lots of drops and stuff, but we haven’t found anything.
"There’s been no sightings, no nothing, that’s why I think someone’s picked her up,” said McNulty, who will not give up the search.
"You’ve got to be hopeful," she said.
"What else do you have left?"
