Hi All
So this is why I became involved in searching so often:
On Tuesday May 19th, early afternoon, I took my dogs up to the Moness estate walks, called Loch Hoil walks, that start opposite the garden centre. I used to do this walk once very two weeks, until recently of course!, and so we parked up and walked about 1.5 to 2 miles west along that track, direction Aberfeldy, but above Aberfeldy. Basically the track that you all know I have focused on all this time. About a mile along the dogs pulled me over to the wee shepherds hut/bothy by the track. There had been a camp fire there by the bothy ashes still warm, and the dogs enjoyed licking the stones round the fireplace (probably meat fat from a BBQ) In two years walking that trail I had never seen the bothy in use so I went inside and there found two camping backpacks with tents, sleeping bags etc all neatly folded away as if ready to leave. Nothing struck me as unusual except I realised I would probably meet the owners at some time on my walk.
Carried on another fifteen minutes with dogs off leash. The collie cross dog, crossed with an Austrian Pincsher, was behind us,the Daxie in front. The collie, called Phoebe, ran off and was gone a few minutes before I missed her, so I began to shout on her to come back, and put the hound back on leash, didn't want her to run off looking after the other one. I called for another five minutes then heard way off downhill and to the back of me very agitated barking, consistent and not mobile. So I became worried,thought she was in trouble, and went back to the place I had last seen her, and began calling again but of course she couldn't hear me,she was barking so much. At the point three young men came down the trail, from west of me.mi explained I was shouting on the dog to come, they said hello and carried on past me. Obviously heading back to get their camping gear. I sat on the wall with the other dog, the barking finally subsided and I became quite emotional. Half an hour had passed and I was really concerned about the dog but didn't want to go searching in case she came back on the trail. She has never run off like this before for that long a time, and she is not a barker like the hound is.
She finally came, hurtling down the trail, again west of me, terribly agitated and whimpering, head, face and front forelegs smeared with blood. I thought the worst so just felt all over her thoroughly for the wound. Nothing. Checked inside her ears also and inside her mouth. Nothing. It was not her blood. But it was fresh, very pink, no smell like that dead animal smell they like to roll in, no bits, just that fresh blood metallic smell. So I rechecked inside her mouth...could she have attacked an animal, mauled it? She is eight years old and has never been aggressive to an animal or attacked. She loves to chase a squirrel up a tree or cats or deer, but never has attacked. It is not in her breed anyway. But I checked her teeth, tongue, breath, no sign of biting or eating an animal. I had the blood on my hands and smelt them again. Meanwhile the helicopter is hovering overhead so I thought of course, perhaps it's the missing tourist, she's fallen and is bleeding, can't move. So I commanded the dog to Go get it! get the toy ! That's how I get her to seek out her ball or her toys. So she ran of back up the track a ways then dipped through a hole in the deer fence and ran up along the wall, heading west. We tried to keep up, then she turned right and into very thick forest where we couldn't follow. I called and called and she eventually came back but with no new fresh blood as far as I can tell. Just there where I was waiting for her, I spotted a Neutrogena lip balm and pocketed it, thinking it might belong to the tourist.
I decided to head home, we'd been out long enough and I thought it best to find a police car, there were so many going about town then.
Dover back into town down the Crieff road. In retrospect I wish I had gone right to Donald's lodge, there was a police van parked there. But I went into the town and followed another police car until he parked. The two policemen left the car to go into someone's house, we waited about ten minutes but the dogs were thirsty and hot so I went home.
I fed them etc, didn't wash the collie or her collar, called the police information number but it rang off so I assumed the office was closed. My mistake was in not driving up to the police station immediately.
However, I called the next morning
