The search for three dogs in south Essex came to a happy ending after they were all found in the space of 24 hours.

The search began when Bow, a British Bull Terrier, went missing while she was being walked over Belhus Country Park, Aveley, on December 30 last year.

Following a plea by Bow’s owner, Jimmy Effeny, 39, from South Ockendon, the canine’s disappearance caught the attention of dog-loving celebrities, such as Paul O’Grady and Deborah Meaden.

Following this, two other dogs went missing in nearby areas.

The first was a Cavapoo called Dolly, who went missing on January 11, and the second was a Greyhound called Glow, who went missing on January 13.

Facebook pages were set up for each dog which gained huge attention, gaining more than 7,000 members between the three of them.

The community of dog lovers got together and started sharing appeals and carrying out search patrols in a quest to find the canines.

Groups that specifically volunteer in searching for lost dogs, such as Tilly’s Angels and Pippa’s Army, joined in, searching high and low for the pets.

Then, in the short space of 24 hours, between January 16 and 17, all three dogs were miraculously found and returned to their owners.

Dolly’s owner, Jayne Stonely, 42, from Grays, was “amazed” that all three of the missing dogs were found in a short space of time, adding “I think these three should be in their own Hollywood movie.”

Jayne’s search for Dolly proved arduous. On one occasion, she had been informed that Dolly had managed to run across three lanes of traffic on the M25 after evading capture from a stranger.

Jayne said: “She was sitting on the side of the M25 and A13 slip road.

“We were cautious of trying to grab her just in case she ran into the road - as by this point she had gone into ‘survival mode’.

“But by the time we had got there somebody had turned up with a squeaky toy and chased her and she ran across three lanes of traffic on the M25. I don’t know how she wasn’t run over.”

Dolly was eventually found in somebody’s garden and returned to Jayne. A fourth dog from, Khan, is still missing after disappearing in Hockley 13 weeks ago.

Following the retrieval of these dogs, an organised walk will take place in Thorndon Country Park on February 11 between 11am and 12pm.