A dog owner was "overjoyed" to be reunited with her two pet pooches - after they spent eight DAYS trapped down a tiny hole underground writes Sarah Lumley.

Katie Fuller, 47, and her daughter Lucy Stammers, 22, were "beside themselves" with worry when their two Jack Russell terriers, Hattie and her daughter Toast, went missing on July 20.

At first, Katie reassured her daughter that the dogs were both microchipped, and somebody would phone the family in a day or two to say they had been found.

But as the days stretched on, with no sign of the two dogs, Katie began to fear that someone had stolen them and was trying to sell them.

So mum-of-two Katie, from Danbury, Essex, was shocked when she discovered that the dogs had got stuck down a hole - just 100 metres from the field at the back of their house.

Hattie, nine, and six-year-old Toast, were dug out from just a metre underground eight days after they disappeared - exhausted and thin, but "elated" to be reunited with their owners.

And Katie, who is also mum to 19-year-old Oli Stammers, said: "It's brilliant to have them both home.

"It was an awful time without them - as the days went by, I was searching on websites to see if anybody had taken them and tried to sell them.

"But they are elated to be out and to be back with us - it's wonderful.

"They were exhausted at first, and skinnier - but not emaciated. But their energy levels are coming back now."

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On the day that Hattie and Toast went missing, Katie said she and her daughter had been out 'mucking out' the three-acre field behind their home.

South West Farmer:

Lucy Stammers with Hattie. Picture: Katie Fuller / SWNS

She said: "We have a field behind our house, where the dogs love to play while we are mucking out.

"They'll rabbit around in the hedges, but they never catch anything. They're more pet terriers, as opposed to working terriers.

"Then when we go back to the house, usually we call them and they come trotting up the garden path, and that's that.

"But on that evening, we called them and called them, and nothing.

"They're both microchipped, so I thought that by the next morning we would have got a call from someone.

"Lucy was beside herself - her and Toast have a really close bond, so she was really worried.

"I kept telling her that someone would call - but it just went on."

Katie and Lucy soon launched a search party for their dogs - and the whole village got involved.

Katie said: "Everybody in Danbury was just fantastic. They were sharing posts on Facebook, putting posters up, trying to do their bit.

"We were a big team - we ended up with over 1000 people in the Facebook group helping out and following our search.

"Lucy was going out into our field every night, because she really believed they were out there.

"The farmer who lives behind us kindly let us wander around his fields, where there are a couple of holes along the hedgerow - but it's quite close to the road, so we couldn't really hear anything.

"Lucy's friend is an RSPCA wildlife officer, so we called her, and we called Natural England.

"Meanwhile, I was out doing barbeques every night - not to eat, but in the hope that they might smell it and come home.

Katie and Lucy set out wildlife cameras in the field behind their house - but caught no sign of Hattie or Toast.

Katie added: "Then two ladies called Kim and Nicky, from animal rescue Help Me Home, got involved, and they were fantastic.

"They really reassured us and helped us to organise our search efforts."

Help Me Home helped Katie get in touch with a man who owned a tracker dog, which was brought down to have a sniff around the fields.

And Katie said: "We even had a gentleman from Fothergill Drone Photography give up his Sunday to come and fly his drone over the fields with the infrared on, to see if he could spot them."

The dogs were eventually found more than a week later, on July 28 - when Lucy heard Toast whimpering.

Katie said: "On the evening we managed to find them, Lucy was out collecting up the wildlife cameras we'd put out, and she heard Toast barking.

"She quickly phoned me and she said 'Mum, I think I can hear Toast'."

"They were in a tiny hole, just a metre underground - literally 100 metres from the back of our field.

South West Farmer:

Hattie and Toast. Picture: Katie Fuller / SWNS

"If I had stood in our field and called for them, they would have come back.

"But it's like they had gone in through the 'front door' of an animal set, and had then squeezed through a tiny 'window' and got stuck.

"The hole was no bigger than when people put their index fingers and thumbs together to make a heart shape. It was that small."

Katie and Lucy quickly phoned the fire brigade, and Lucy's friend from the RSPCA - and rescuers from the fire service spent two hours freeing the dogs.

Katie said: "We have a friend who has one of those wriggly, microscopic cameras, and he had put it down the hole and spotted Toast.

"We thought it was just her down there - and Lucy was going to sit out in the field overnight and see if Hattie appeared.

"But we were overjoyed when Hattie popped out from behind Toast, too - two for the price of one.

"It's so brilliant to have them both back.

"We're so thankful to the fire brigade, the RSPCA, Nicky and Kim from Help Me Home, and everyone else who helped us search."

Lucy has now set up an Instagram page for the dogs, called The Adventures of Hattie and Toast - which has garnered over 300 followers in less than a week.

And Katie said: "We're quite nervous to let them out now - but they're just so happy to be home."