AND then there were four…

Two more of the litter of eight Springer Spaniel puppies stolen from a Dorset garden nearly two weeks ago have been recovered after a dog walker found them abandoned on Kinson Common.

Ruby being reunited with two of her eight Springer Spaniel pups earlier in the week

They have been reunited with their joyful mother, working dog, Ruby, and two siblings recovered from a house in Parkstone on Monday (20) by police acting on a tip-off.

Delighted owners, Rupert and Jennie Tory, who had intended one of the pups as a companion for their five-month-old son, William, spoke of their joy at the second reunion in a week.

Rupert said: “They were really, really happy to be back. They were very hungry and quite thin. The lady who found them had been walking her dogs, who must have come across them.

“She thought about ringing the kennels but couldn’t bear to take them in because they were so small.”

She took them instead to Aniwell's veterinary surgery in Kinson who contacted police this morning (THUR 23).

Nurse, Maria Jordan-Gill,said staff contacted the police after reading about the missing Spaniels in Wednesday’s Daily Echo.

The litter of three liver-and-white and five black-and-white puppies were taken from a locked kennel at the Torys’ home in Winterbourne Whitechurch between 5pm and 6.15pm on Saturday September 11.

All of the pups have docked tails. Dogs with surgically shortened tails can only be sold with appropriate paperwork.

Anyone offered a Spaniel puppy with a shortened tail should ask for the paper work and contact the police if they are concerned.

Dorset Police said that three men and two women from the Parkstone area of Poole arrested earlier this week in connection with the incident had been released on bail while investigations continue.

Anyone with information should contact PC Mark Holdgate in Poole Detained Persons Unit on 01202 222222, or the free and anonymous Crimestoppers Service on 0800 555 111.