A HUGE search for a missing collie united the community and sent dozens of people out into the countryside calling the name ‘Alfie’.

Alfie, who belongs to Terry Harvey from The Creeks End Inn in Kingsbridge, had been for a walk with a friend at Topsham Bridge near Loddiswell when he suddenly disappeared.

Terry received a phone call with the news and posted a message on Facebook which then went viral in the local community.

Everyone from dog walkers to councillors answered the call and set off into the countryside in search of Alfie - but he was nowhere to be seen.

After a sleepless night, Terry went back to the woods the following morning and met other people looking for Alfie as well. Terry said: ‘I even bumped into people I didn’t know!’ A postman spotted Alfie in Woodleigh in the afternoon, and later on, a member of the public spotted him in Moreleigh, but by the time Terry got there, the elusive collie had moved on.

Terry said: ‘Someone suggested that I pee in the hedges and leave some piles of my clothes around so Alfie would be able to pick up my scent. I also left him some food.’

Obviously Terry’s smells helped, as Alfie was discovered clean, dry and in good health the following morning between Moreleigh and Woodleigh.

Terry said: ‘At 6am I went out with my friend Steve to look for him.

‘At 6.45am, I had a phone call from Steve, telling me he had someone next to him who’d like a word with me.

‘When I realised he had found Alfie, I could hardly speak, I was so emotional.

‘I was so worried that Alfie would attempt to walk home on the road from Loddiswell or try and cross the flooded stream.’

Terry added: 'I’d just like to say a huge thank you to everybody who went out looking for him - so many people helped out, it was amazing.’

Alfie is now back home at The Creeks End Inn, where he can be found at the bar most evenings.