Man's Best Friend Saves The Day!

Dog follows his nose to find stolen motocross bikes in Stalbridge

By Dadcock  |  Posted: December 17, 2015

Dennis Pender and Storm at the site in Stalbridge where the stolen motocross bikes were found.

A labrador turned supersleuth tracked down valuable stolen motocross bikes in Stalbridge.

The two bikes had been stolen from secure premises in Stalbridge in the early hours of Monday morning.

But they were back with their owner on Monday night after Dennis Pender and his dog Storm found them during a walk near Station Road Industrial Estate.

Mr Pender praised Storm - a fox red labrador gun dog whose registered name is Firestorm Blaze - for finding the bikes.

Storm twice stopped at a particular point on the footpath and indicated something was in the grass nearby.

Mr Pender said: "I just wanted to get on home but I let him off the lead to see and when I shone my torch I saw something orange and white.

"I thought it must be a person, someone had fallen over or something so I went to see and found two motocross bikes, one each side of a little track."

Mr Pender called the police and while he waited with the bikes he made calls to his wife and friends and spoke to another man walking a dog to get the word back to owner Josh House.

He said: "While I was waiting I saw a white van come slowly along the industrial estate and thought it must be the police.

"I shone my torch to show him where I was and the van speeded up and shot away - I think it must have been coming to pick up those bikes.

"I reckon if I'd left them and gone home to call the police they would have been gone."

He added: "The bikes weren't hidden and a lot of people walk round there during the day so I think they must have been put there after dark.

"Storm is trained to use his nose - he's a wonderful dog.

"It's thanks to him we found those bikes."

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they were called to an address in Stalbridge at 5.20am on Monday reporting a burglary.

He said two motocross bikes were reported as stolen and confirmed they were reunited with their owner that night after being found by a dogwalker.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the police on 101 quoting reference number 14:29.

Dee Adcock