AN overjoyed Trowbridge family have been reunited with their poorly Jack Russell two weeks after she was feared dead after being stolen.

The Lamploughs in Cockhill made a desperate appeal to help find 13-year-old Dora after the terrier went missing.

But now they are celebrating after receiving the amazing news that she had been found alive.

Dora was discovered after police received a tip off about stolen dogs and raided a traveller camp in Gloucestershire.

Mrs Lamplough, 59, said: “I just can’t believe that we have got her back. I can’t stop looking at her.

“When we got her home, she was running around like a puppy.”

After Dora disappeared on Monday, February 8, the family put up missing dog posters on lamp-posts in nearby roads.

They even commissioned a drone operator to search for her in the Cockhill and Broadmead estate areas.

Two weeks ago, Mrs Lamplough said Dora was likely to die because she needed medication twice a day for a long-standing heart problem.

She said: “Dora must have got out and is now missing. We think that someone must have taken her because we haven’t found a body.

“Dora is partially sighted and partially blind and has a heart problem for which she needs medication twice a day. Without it, she will die.”

The family received the amazing news she had been found after being contacted by police in Gloucestershire.

An officer looking after Dora was alerted to social media posts featuring the Wiltshire Times news story about her being missing.

He contacted Mrs Lamplough to check the serial number on her microchip and found it matched.

Dora went missing after Mrs Lamplough’s daughter Emily, 33, accidentally left a garden gate open and she wandered out onto the road.

Mrs Lamplough said: “We were facing the possibility she may have passed away due to her being elderly and on heart medication which she needs daily.

“It turns out she was grabbed by opportunists passing by and ended up in Gloucestershire and hoarded with a load of other stolen dogs.

“The police did a raid five days later after a tip off and found Dora barely alive.

“The other dogs were all running around but Dora was curled up in a cardboard box. The police raced her to the vets because she was so unwell.

“Her microchip unfortunately wasn’t detected and after the vets got her well again a lovely officer planned to keep her.

“But then he stumbled across one of the many posts shared of the article about Dora in the Wiltshire Times.

“So Dora is now back home where she belongs. We’ve all been in tears of joy at this wonderful news.

“It goes to show your much-loved pets can end up absolutely anywhere. Never give up hope and most importantly keep them safe.

“We’re so pleased to have her back home. I’m never going to let her out of my sight again.”