MEET Buster - the luckiest dog alive!

When the gutsy little threeyear-old Yorkshire Terrier broke free of his collar after being spooked by a passing car one evening last week, he ran off - and continued to run . . . and run . . . and run.

Indeed, he disappeared so fast, his distraught owners thought that he'd gone for good and after four days without any trace, felt the story of little Buster might turn out to be a tragic tail!

And after issuing hundreds of notes around the doors of homes in Yellowbatter and elsewhere, asking if anyone had seen him, there was still no news.

'That was', stated delighted owner Geraldine Synnott, 'until the Drogheda Independent appeared last Wednesday morning'.

The family contacted the local newspaper in a last ditch effort to find their treasued house pet - and the phone began to ring, and ring, and ring!

'It was an incredible reaction,' stated Geraldine. 'Buster was missing for four days and we looked everywhere for him. We asked a huge number of people and really, it was a desperate situation.' Various people did ring, thinking they'd seen him, but it wasn't to be. A Yorkshire Terrier was even found wandering on a northside street - but it was the wrong dog!

'We were worried about him because he's a real pet,' his owner added.

The story of the search for the friendly little dog, who is a real home bird, appeared in last week's paper and within a few hours, the family were given a number of leads.

'We got a number of calls to say there was a dog out near Newtownstalaban, fitting the description in the paper, so we made our way out there,' Geraldine continued. They went to Drummonds Seeds but they hadn't seen him and it was getting dark and cold. Could Buster's luck have run out?

'We came out of there worried that he might be gone again but we decided on one last search and almost immediately Buster suddenly darted out from a ditch right into our path. He was lucky I didn't drive over him!'

The family piled out of the car and a delighted Buster dived into their arms.

'You could say that was a happy car that came back to Drogheda that night,' Geraldine added. 'Only for the Drogheda Independent story and the huge number of people who read it on Wednesday he would not be home right now.'

The family headed straight for the vet and apart from very sore paws and a couple of scratches, Buster, who had walked for miles, was fine, although he hadn't eaten anything in the four days.

However, the story doesn't end there. For days, right up to the weekend, the family got a series of calls from people, asking if they'd found the dog and did they need any help, showing the true Drogheda community spirit.

'It was unbelievable. People were ringing the number in the paper asking about the dog and giving us their own stories about their dogs. The story in the paper saved him as did the people who rang us when they read it,' the happy owner added.

- Hubert MURPHY