A FAMILY have been reunited with their pet after she was found wandering 300 miles from her home.

Sadie, a wire-haired fox terrier, was safe in the arms of her owners last night after a dog warden found her wandering in County Durham, a year after she went missing.

The 18-month old pup disappeared after a day out in Berkshire with her family last year, leaving them distraught.

Thankfully, she had been micro-chipped, and last night was lapping up the attention as she returned home after her adventure.

Sadie's owner, Dr Caroline Rimmer, from Hook, Hampshire, said she and her children, Eloise, five, and Amynta, three, were ecstatic.

She said: "It is fantastic after all the heartache that was caused last year. The children are in heaven.

"I am just so glad that she was microchipped and I would be the first one to recommend it to anyone.

"She was around seven months when she disappeared, but she recognised me and the children straight away.''

Dr Rimmer and her family thought they would never see their pet again and had even bought another terrier, which they have also named Sadie.

They believed the puppy had either become stuck down a rabbit hole or had been stolen.

This week, Sadie was found roaming in Shildon, where Shane Roxby, an environmental protection officer with Sedgefield Borough Council, collected her.

It took only one phone call from the Deerness Kennels, in Durham, to reunite her with her family.

Dr Rimmer's mother, Lady Jill Temple, travelled from Edinburgh to collect Sadie, now renamed Pepsi to avoid confusion.