It’s been a long 48 hours for Sophia the sausage dog’s owners, Ryan Poisson and Miriam Engel of Tweni.

Ryan has had Sophia, now 10 years old,  since she was a puppy, and she everywhere with him,  even on hikes at Oribi Gorge.

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On Tuesday evening, Ryan and his friend, Richard Jamieson had stopped for supper at a popular spot for surfers and body boarders in Shelly Beach.

Ryan says they had left the beach and shortly afterwards realised Sophia was not on the back seat of the car.

“We quickly turned back, and searched the beach and parking area but she was nowhere to be seen,” he said.

Ryan slept on the beach that night, and the following day posted notices on Facebook asking people to be on the lookout for missing Sophia.

On Wednesday morning, someone spotted Sophia on the R102, below the Tweni Whale Deck.

Ryan and Miriam searched the area until sunset yesterday, but she was nowhere to be found.

Concerned someone may have picked her up,  today Ryan stood, holding a poster sporting a photo of Sophia, in the midst of the early-morning traffic making its way into Port Shepstone on the R102  in the hopes that a passing motorist would have seen her.

Then in an almost unbelievable stroke of luck,  Tweni resident, Kerrin Gouws found Sophia in her garden this morning. Ryan and Miriam were seriously relieved by the news, and thanked the community for their amazing support.

Looking back now, Sophia had more than likely noticed that Ryan was gone, and set off on the long 12 kilometre journey home to Tweni.

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