PRIVATE EYE TRACES MISSING DOG

Members of a Derbyshire family have been reunited with their missing dog after hiring a private investigator to track it down.
The Kecks suspected their dog, a basset hound, had been stolen from their home in August last year.A website appeal, a call to police and a search by the RSPCA failed to find the animal.
A chance encounter with another basset owner gave daughter Alicia, 22, the potential lead they were looking for. Someone had "found" a dog fitting the description at about the same time the pet went missing.
The Kecks hired a private investigator to look into the possible link and the pet, now a two-year-old, was traced to another family in Long Eaton, about 30 miles away.The unsuspecting family took Ivy in good faith from a young woman who is believed to have stolen the dog, said investigator Rod Repton. The new family made the dog their pet and had even spent £400 on vet's fees when the animal fell ill.The Keck family was reunited with the dog earlier this month, more than one year after its disappearance.