TV hope for new lead in Hyde missing dog hunt

A beloved pet pooch, who has been missing for almost a year, has been featured on a nationwide television series.

In her Channel 5 series ‘Lost Dogs, Found Dogs’, Clare Balding rallies the support of the British public to help reunite lost dogs with their owners.

The second episode of the season featured Frankie who went missing on October 23 last year from her Tameside home.

The one-year-old cavapoo was spooked by fireworks while on a walk in Garden Street Playing Fields in the Newton area of Hyde.

“My mum and dad were away on holiday,” Megan Littler said.

“I was looking after Frankie at my boyfriend’s in Hyde so we weren’t in her local area.

“I took her for a quick walk before tea, only for around ten to 15 minutes as she’d already had a walk that day.

“They were setting off balloons in the park for a memorial, and out of nowhere a firework sounded - she pulled off her collar, ran across the main road and was gone.”

There were many sightings called in initially and drones were assisting the search, however nothing came of this and the family are still none the wiser as to where Frankie could be.

Her appearance on Clare’s show was described by the family as ‘an amazing opportunity’ for which the family are ‘immensely grateful’.

Megan continued: “Any exposure is amazing and we are really grateful, we just feel like we’ve hit a brick wall; it’s not led to anything new and it’s so disheartening.

“It’s great to get her name out there but I think we were just hoping new leads would come from it.

“We just want to know where she is, it’s devastating - I think it’s the not know- ing that’s the hardest part. It’s not getting any easier, it seems to only get worse aswe lose hope of finding our girl.”

Frankie is described as ‘truly part of the family’. With many people rooting for her return, a Facebook page dedicated to finding her has more than 15,000 followers - with people all across the region helping with searches, putting up posters and collecting donations.

One viewer of the Channel 5 show posted to Facebook: “As soon as Frankie was mentioned on the TV Programme I burst out crying, Frankie’s disappearance has really got to me and thousands of others too. Come home Frankie.”

Megan wished to say a special thank you to Justine Quirk, who had contacted Clare’s show in relation to Frankie and the awareness raised for her.

The family are now hoping that someone may see the show or articles who has either found Frankie or has rehomed a new dog like Frankie since October 23 last year.

All information will be completely confidential, and best number to contact the family on is 07960 873400.