A RESCUE dog recently saved from Crete is back at home in Sutton after a traumatic adventure in the wilds of Lothersdale.

Harley the crossbreed fled his new ‘forever’ home after being alarmed by a tractor starting up on the road outside.

A massive Facebook appeal revealed several sightings on the South Craven hills but a frantic midnight search by his adoptive family failed to unearth him.

Then, as owner Kathy Robson slept downstairs after hours scouring Harley’s last-known locations, she heard him scratching on the door at 4am.

Harley, who has traces of greyhound, is now reunited with fellow Grecian hound Hector following his 18-hour disappearance.

he met while at the.

Kathy said: “Thankfully he wasn’t injured, just cold, tired and hungry… and very smelly. He’s fine now, he just had a bit of an ordeal.

“Lots of lovely people shared on Facebook and the lost dog sites like Lost & Hound, Drone SAR Ground Search, and Yorkshire Dogs Lost and Found, who were really helpful.”

“People said on Facebook that they’d seen him and he looked petrified. He still had stitches from an operation.”

Harley and Hector were brought to the UK this year – Harley only three weeks ago – after Kathy and her family fell in love with them during a visit to the Gouves Animal Shelter in Crete.

Kathy, a digital production controller for a publishing company, first heard about the shelter when she met a volunteer while holidaying in Greece, and decided to raise money for its work.

The family subsequently visited the shelter while on holiday in Crete, and arranged to transport Harley and Hector home.

Kathy said: “Some amazing volunteers in Crete make it possible for these poor souls to be brought to the UK to have a loving home.

“Harley had been at the shelter from being a puppy and been outside in a cage all his life. It’s only in the last couple of weeks that he’s come out of his shell.

“We let him in the garden, which we thought was 100 per cent secure. Then the tractor started up – I saw him go through the hedge and bolt.”

Harley was first sighted near the Dog and Gun pub, on the borders of Glusburn and Sutton, then he ran off into the grounds of the former Malsis School and away up Lothersdale Road.