A dog from Oxfordshire has been reunited with her owners a month after going missing, thanks to the UK’s largest pet identification service, Petlog, which is run by the Kennel Club.

Jessie, an 18 month old rescued Lurcher from Oxford, was reunited with her delighted owners - the Koch family - having been found over 80 miles and three counties away, thanks to her identification microchip.

Jessie was stolen by opportunist thieves after she was left tied to a lamppost outside a local supermarket. The Kennel Club recommends that dogs are not left tied up anywhere and are always secured properly even when left for a few moments, to reduce the chances of being lost or stolen.

Aurelian Koch spoke of his regret, saying: “It was a sunny day so I obviously didn’t want to leave Jessie in the car, so I just tied her to a post whilst I quickly popped into the supermarket. Even though it was brief, when I got out, she was gone, which I regret so much. I was so distraught I just didn’t know what to do. We had only had Jessie for six weeks, and she had been settling in to the family well, becoming a calming, joyous influence on our lives, and my two children just adored her.”

After three weeks Aurelian had given up hope of ever seeing Jessie again, and had even begun to look for a new dog to fill the void. What the Koch family didn’t know however was that a farmer in Blaby, Leicestershire, had found Jessie wandering around on her land and taken her in, given her a bath, fed her and then taken her to the local vet a couple of days later.

At the veterinary practice, Jessie had her microchip scanned by the vet, who called Petlog’s Central Microchip Reunification Service, which then quickly contacted the Koch family. A delighted Aurelian rushed into his car to pick up Jessie who was over 80 miles away.

Aurelian said: “I couldn’t believe she had been found safe and well, and it was all down to the lovely farmer who took her in, the vet and the Petlog team. I hadn’t slept properly for a month while she was missing and the call from Petlog was music to my ears. As soon as I brought her back we were a family again, and my wife and children were absolutely delighted.”

Caroline Kisko, Communications Director of the Kennel Club said: “Although we would strongly recommend that dogs are never simply tied to a lamppost anywhere, we are delighted to have been able to reunite the Koch family with their beloved family pet.

“Petlog has helped reunite so many pets with their owners, and carries the details of over 3.7 million pets on its database. This latest happy ending goes to show how important it is to have your dog permanently identified and its details kept up to date.”