Worth Every Penny!

Dog owner remortgages home to offer £10,000 reward

A dog lover whose pet was snatched five months ago has remortgaged her three-bedroom home so she can offer a £10,000 reward for information leading to the animal's return.

Dawn Maw, 42, was putting pointer Angel, one of just two show champion gun dogs in the country, into the boot of her car along with her three other dogs when she was taken on December 6 last year.
But now, the mother-of-one – who has travelled the length and breadth of the UK to find her dog – has remortgaged her £160,000 semi-detached home in the hope someone will come forward for the reward.
She said: "I didn't tell the bank what I needed the money for. My husband was a little dubious before we approached the bank, but he would never have stopped me because Angel was part of the family and we all miss her.
"We've managed to raise money which we've put towards raising awareness of Angel.
"I've published 18,000 posters, 70,000 business cards and 30,000 fliers, and spent about £5,000 on advertising, but she's still not been found."
She admits taking the equity has left her family making sacrifices – they've had to forgo holidays and meals out – but Ms Maw insists it's all worth it, as Angel is part of the family.
"She wasn't just a dog, she was everything to us, a real family member. She wasn't a dog we'd take for a walk once a day then forget about," said Ms Maw, of Barnsley, South Yorks.
"It's devastated the whole family. People have said to me, 'why don't you just get a new dog?'
"But it's not like getting a new car. You can't just replace her. That's why it was so important to get this money, so we know we're doing everything we can to get her back.
"I still have hope we'll find her. It's been five months but the biggest hope we have is her chip. Hopefully someone will find her and a vet will scan her, because she's microchipped."
Ms Maw has been working with Bruce Forsyth's daughter Debbie Matthews, who's launched a campaign called Vets Get Scanning, and introduced 'halo scanners' which cost just under 30 pounds and are more accessible than regular scanners.
Ms Maw said she had been walking four-and-a-half-year-old Angel and her three other dogs in Cawthorne, Barnsley, and was putting the animals in the back of the car when Angel disappeared.
"As I turned around I saw a white Transit van," she said.
"It was 7.30am and it had only just got light.
"She was obviously stolen and whoever has got her doesn't want to give her up. Whether she was stolen to order, I don't know."