'Hornby’s most famous dog' found after five weeks in the wild
Photo: Geoff Sloan
A Christchurch woman is overjoyed a five-week long search to find her missing dog Tinka has had a happy ending.
Katrina Horne's little white maltese chihuahua has been found after she went missing in the Hornby area five weeks ago.
Described as a “mummy’s girl,” in her 11 years Tinka had never ventured out past the driveway of her home, Mrs Horne said.
“It was completely out of character . . . she is quite a princess,” she said.
But after five stressful weeks of searching every night, putting out mailbox flyers and making posts on Facebook since Christmas Eve, Tinka (short for Tinker Bell) was found.
She was discovered about 5km away from her Hornby home hiding under a property on Main South Rd near the Golden Mile Motel and Tavern in Templeton.
She was found after Mrs Horne received a phone call from a woman who had seen a small white dog on a property in Templeton.
“In my mind, I didn’t think it was her because she had been away so long,” she said.
Mrs Horne went out to the same area three times to find Tinka.
On the second night, when she was walking back to the car, she saw a flash of white and called out before Tinka came running to her.
The find had left Mrs Horne a “blubbering mess on the side of the road".
“I was beside myself, I couldn’t believe it was her. I think I was in a state of shock.”
Her family was just as excited, she said she was worried her four-year-old and two-year-old children would “smother” Tinka, as they were so excited to see her.
Mrs Horne described her other papillon chihuahua Louie, 8, as “over the moon” to see his pal back home.
While Tinka was away, Louie would cry when her children talked about her.
“It would break my heart.”
Mrs Horne said the “odds were against” Tinka as she had suffered a bad heart murmur since she was born.
How did Tinka end up in Templeton? No one will ever know.
“I wish I knew her full story, she was starving, so skinny.
"She was a bit overweight when she left and she was so skinny and so dirty when I found her."
But Mrs Horne said since Tinka has been home, she has been a “hungry scavenger”, living the life and getting putting weight back on.
She wished to thank everyone who helped bring Tinka back home.
Greater Hornby Residents’ Association chairman Marc Duff said due to the amount of Facebook posts shared about the missing dog, Tinka has become “Hornby’s most famous dog.”
By Georgia O'Connor-Harding Star News Christchurch