Two weeks ago, Grace, a miniature fox terrier — who is deaf and blind — went missing from her home in Maheno, south of Oamaru, sending her owner Bob Morris into a panic. Never did he think she would be in Invercargill.
The pair had barely been apart in her 18 years, and when Mr Morris woke at 5am one day and noticed Grace was not tucked up in her bed, he knew something was wrong.
After searching his property, on the St Andrew’s Anglican Memorial Church grounds, he realised Grace had accidentally slipped out through the cat door and become lost.
By 7.30am Maheno residents came out in force searching across the North Otago township for Grace, who had become almost an unofficial mascot in the area. There were reports she had been run over, or hit by a car, and Mr Morris did not know what to think — until he got an unlikely phone call.
A Maheno resident rang Mr Morris saying he heard Grace had been picked up by a truck driver on State Highway 1, in Maheno, and taken to Invercargill.
"I’d almost given up on her," Mr Morris said.
Bruce, the truck driver whose surname Mr Morris did not know, found Grace at 2am, and thought she had been hurt.
Fearing for her safety, Bruce took Grace on his trip to Southland and then on his return trip through Oamaru, he dropped Grace at Vetlife Oamaru the same day.
"The decency and the caring he must have had for animals to stop and get out to check her to make sure she was still alive ... full credit to him.
"He really was a saviour of Grace."
Mr Morris collected Grace the next morning, who gave him a lot of "cuddles and kisses", and he was overjoyed to be reunited with his leading lady.
Grace took a couple of days to come right after her big trip around the countryside, but she was settling back into her life with Mr Morris by her side.
