Arima, a border collie, believed to be aged 3, disappeared early on the last day of 2025.
For near on five long months — 147 days to be exact — Arima spent her time in an area at the top of the Leith Valley near Dunedin.
Dog lover Lauren Moses and the dog’s owner, who declined to be named, spent many, many hours searching for the dog.
Arima had fled for the hills after a week with the owner.
Miss Moses, who has tracked many lost dogs, said Arima went into fright mode, which made her recapture very difficult.
‘‘With fright mode there is a chemical switch in their brain. The dog starts behaving differently. It is like a switch has happened with the dog,’’ she said.
‘‘You get close to them and they will just take off. Run away from anyone.’’
Miss Moses said with fright mode, Arima would have just truly headed for the hills should a swarm of people moved into the area where the dog was seen.
So every two days she and the owner would head to the hills and lay some food down for the animal.
‘‘We took it cautiously and took it slowly to see how she would go. She was well enough to get there and get her feed. But she was still wary.’’
The community support was overwhelming, she said, with money paid for dog food and endless messages of support.
She said with the weather getting colder and winter coming closer every day, the crunch was coming for the dog.
The times they saw Arima, she looked to be in good health. But it was just so hard to get close.
They had trail cameras installed and the dog trap placed but the animal was very shy and could not be captured.
Miss Moses pulled her calf at one stage and could not get to see Arima for a couple of weeks.
‘‘But that wasn’t going to stop me. I could not give up then. I couldn’t do that after all that had happened.’’
So come last Wednesday at 4am an alarm was triggered on the dog trap which showed Arima was inside the trap.
The duo rushed to the area, climbing through some very thick bush and through the trails, in freezing conditions to get to the trap where they found Arima.
They got Arima out of the cage, taking it nice and slowly before giving Arima a hug.
‘‘She had my scent so she was comfortable with a hug. Nice and close. I had a huge smile on my face to hold her after all that time. It was a huge relief.
‘‘Considering for all that time she had been away up in those hills she was looking all right.’’
Arima had been well over the past couple of days and was now spending some time at property owned by friends of Miss Moses, recovering and relaxing.
Miss Moses though is not standing still. Another dog, Bess, a huntaway cross, had gone missing from the Pigeon Flat area about two weeks ago, and she was leading the hunt to find her.
