When Michelle Burrow first saw Flash the pair formed an instant bond. Settling straight in at her home in Caerphilly, the 11-year-old dog quickly won over Michelle's heart and the pair soon became inseparable.
However, nine months later her friend - quite by chance - sent her a picture of an identical sprocker spaniel which had been stolen seven years before, saying, "Doesn't this look just like your Flashie?" So Michelle contacted the people who'd posted it online and asked for their missing pet's microchip details, thereby confirming her worst fears.
The numbers matched, meaning Flash had indeed been snatched from outside her home almost 200 miles away in Buckinghamshire in 2015 - since which time her family had all but given up any hope of ever seeing her again. Heartbroken, 38-year-old care worker Michelle therefore tearfully agreed to give her up, realising the pooch's rightful place was back with the people who'd been searching in vain for her all this time.
"It was really bittersweet for me because Flash had become a big part of my life," said Michelle, who'd obtained the dog from a breeder who no longer wanted her. "She's such a sweet and lovely girl who's always wagging her tail and just wants to be everyone's friend.
"Her place soon became the foot of my bed; so she'd be the last thing I saw before I went to sleep and the first thing that greeted me when I woke up in the morning." Michelle added that she'd never imagined Flash could have belonged to someone else, her microchip having failed to flag her as stolen during initial checkups with the vet.
"Turns out she was one of five dogs who'd all been taken on the same day," she said. "And when I phoned Flash's owner to tell her she was still alive we were both in floods of tears.
"It was a really bittersweet moment for me because I knew I'd just made someone really happy by reuniting them with their lost pet. But, at the same time, I would consequently have to give up my lovely little girl."
Michelle explained that Flash had since gone back to Buckinghamshire, her original owner Emma Drewett having driven to south Wales to collect her. The Drewetts had launched a huge appeal on social media when their dog first disappeared, but it had proved fruitless.
They described Flash having been missing as "seven years of hell". Meanwhile, Michelle was critical of whichever company was responsible for the dog's microchip.
"The only info on Flash's chip was her date of birth and the date the implant was put in," she fumed. "There was nothing at all to suggest she was missing.
"Maybe it was a system error of some kind, which can happen. But all I know is a lot of heartache could have been avoided had things been done properly."
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