Connor the wander dog's wild 210 days
Forrestfield brothers Henry and Samuel Roeger never lost hope their beloved English springer spaniel was alive.
The boys' faith was rewarded at the weekend when Connor, missing since June 22, was found at a farm west of Darkan.
In the 210 days since he disappeared, Connor endured freezing winter nights and boiling summer days. He also managed to find food and water while avoiding lethal snakes and foxes.
The boys' mum Sally Thomson said the adored pooch quietly slipped out an open car door when her husband Haydn pulled over near Darkan last year.
Their search of towns across the region failed to find Connor until farmer Hayden Lubcke spotted what he first thought was a feral pig on Saturday.
The scrawny, unkempt dog turned out to be Connor and, through the reach of a missing Perth pets Facebook page, family and dog were reunited.
"I burst into tears. We were just elated," Mrs Thomson said. "He recognised us without a doubt."
The family spent nights camping near where Connor went missing in a bid to find the five-year-old spaniel. During weekly trips to their hobby farm near Lake Towerrinning, 240km south of Perth, Mrs Thomson encouraged her sons to look out the window to see if they could spot Connor.
"We never gave up hope," Mrs Thomson said. "Every time we'd go to the farm we'd say to the boys, 'Keep an eye out for Connor, he could have travelled'.
"It's just an amazing feeling. You couldn't put a price on the smiles on their faces."
Pets of Perth - Lost & Found administrator Jo Gibbs said linking Connor to his family had been the biggest coup in the site's four-year history.
Ms Gibbs said the page, which has almost 37,000 "likes", had reunited countless pets and their owners but none missing more than five months. She said they had an average of 20 missing animal posts a day.
Ms Gibbs urged owners to keep pets in an enclosed area on Australia Day because fireworks spooked them and many went missing.
