Padiham

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A runaway dog spent around 18 hours on the central reservation of a motorway until rescuers arrived.

Police^[2] closed off the M65^[3] at junction eight at Hapton in both directions when one-year-old German Shepherd Yoda was spotted on the central reservation yesterday afternoon at around 1pm.

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But Yoda ran off when police officers attempted to catch him. The terrified pooch kept on running, as the motorway was at a standstill, before he fled into bushes. By this time owner Stephen had arrived and a lady popped her head over the bridge to say Yoda had jumped into her garden.

One year old German Shepherd dog Yoda is safely back home with his family in Padiham after he snook out of the house and was eventually spotted on the central reservation of the M65 motorway

Stephen said: “We are so relieved to have him home and I can’t thank enough the police, highways and all the people who messaged us with offers to help find Yoda when he went missing.”

Yoda disappeared from the family home in the Cambridge Drive area of Padiham on Sunday tea time after a gate was accidentally left open. By the time Stephen and his wife Rachel noticed he had gone Yoda was nowhere to be seen. Dozens of people responded to a .missing dog’ post Stephen put on social media saying they had seen Yoda and tried to catch him.

Stephen said: “We knew that wouldn’t work as Yoda is very wary of strangers so we think that made him run further from home.”

Following reports the next day that Yoda had been spotted on the motorway dodging traffic, while Stephen continued to search for his beloved pet his best pal, Steven Elmes, went looking on the motorway bridges with his dog, Xena, a white German Shepherd. When they got to junction eight Xena sat down and when Steven looked over from the bridge he spotted poor Yoda in the central reservation. Stephen added: “Yoda and Xena know each other so she had his scent.”

Cars whizz by as poor German Shepherd dog Yoda lays stranded in the grass on the central reservation of the M65 at Hapton

Once safely back home Yoda wolfed down two bowls of food and five bowls of water. After being checked over by the vet he is on ‘bedrest’ after scorching the pads on his paws after several hours of running on concrete in the heat.

Stephen, who has another German Shepherd called, Zelda who is three, added: “Even the vet knew who Yoda was, he is definitely famous now.”

References

1. ^{^} Visit Shots! now (www.shotstv.com)
2. ^{^} Police (www.lep.co.uk)
3. ^{^} M65 (www.lep.co.uk)
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