Urgent search to reunite girl with epilepsy with missing therapy dog in the Highlands

An urgent search has been launched to reunite a young girl with epilepsy with her missing therapy dog in the Highlands.

Louie, adopted as a therapy dog for his owner Louise Manson’s daughter, who lives with epilepsy, ran off after slipping his lead near Steall Falls in Glen Nevis on May 26.

Louise has since led an “emotional and tireless” campaign to find her pet, supported by a Facebook group with over 1,200 members.

The search has been backed by volunteers combating vast, rugged terrain after Louise appealed to the public in the hope that someone picked Louie up thinking he was lost or abandoned

Fort William resident Iona Macdonald has since launched a GoFundMe campaign to support the search for the Golden Retriever.

The raised funds hope to bring in professional support, including drone search teams and tracking dogs, to continue the effort.

So far, £2,690 has been raised, smashing its original £2,000 goal.

Louise has expressed overwhelming gratitude for the public’s help so far, saying their home “isn’t home without him.”

The fundraiser reads: “A good friend was up Steall Falls in Glen Nevis on Monday May 26 in the evening and her family dog Louie slipped his lead and ran away. Despite numerous hours spent searching by everyone and strangers who have kindly joined in searching Louie has still not been found.

“As many will know the area Louie has run of is very big open spaces with lots of rough terrain and the searches so far have not been successful.

“Organised searches will be sorted soon on the Facebook page.

“Louie is a Golden Retriever and is a lovable, friendly dog, now all the searches have so far not shown anything we now think we could try and raise some funds to help Louise towards paying for specialists to come up with thermal drones.

“Anyone who has a dog will know they are not just an animal, they are part of your family. I cannot imagine how Louise, Charlie ,and the girls are coping.”