A woman from Exmouth whose dog has now been missing for seven months is still hopeful Amber will return safely to her.

Julie Day was out walking eight year old Amber the cocker spaniel on Gore Lane in May last year, when the dog bolted into a hedge, and Julie intially thought the dog had just seen something to chase.

The dog was fitted with a tracker so Julie quickly loaded up the app to check where her dog was heading, and she could see it was moving quickly away from her. 

She first thought the dog was chasing something and got lost - but Julie now thinks for the dog to be missing for eight months, it must have been taken by someone and living with them.

She contacted the police on the matter who gave her a crime reference number. She also thought the dog may have disappeared in the fields on Maer Lane - she called the fire service who she said did an 'amazing job' searching down the holes for Amber, but to no avail.

Amber was fitted with a tracker and bell as Julie had to put her through a lot of training and rehabilitation to get the dog over the trauma her previous owners put her through. 

Julie told the Journal: "Amber had only been with us for three years, but from the moment we met her we loved her, and she loved us. Her former owner had to give her up due to personal circumstances but prior to that Amber had been rehomed three times, she’d been mistreated and locked in a shed for 18 months, so she wasn’t without her problems.

"We searched and searched becoming increasingly scared and desperate, and there have been no confirmed sightings of Amber anywhere.

"Every morning we wake up thinking will this be the day we hear something, every night we go to bed devastated that there’s nothing."

Anyone with information or has seen Amber, call Julie on 07541 731522.