Posters, scented items and drones: Highland hunt for teenager's missing therapy dog
Walking along Nevis Gorge, the rumble of Steall Falls can be heard long before you see it. Rocky terrain clears to expansive grassland, forest and shrubbery.
Among Glen Nevis's lush greenery, flashes of bright red paper can be seen. It is not litter left by tourists who have trekked to this beauty spot, but missing posters handed out by the family of Louie, a two-year-old golden retriever who has been missing for a fortnight.
The breathtaking scenery is no longer noticed by Louie's owner, Louise Manson, and her two daughters Ellie and Lara. They have have been coming daily, sometimes several times a day, to search for their beloved dog.
Louie has been on walks here regularly but on the day of his disappearance, Louise says he got spooked. 'We got to the top of the gorge and a family were there and the rain was pounding. You couldn't hear very much between the rain and the waterfall.
'The family was coming towards the car park and they had a toddler there screaming. I don't know if he got a scent of a deer but we looked down [at the lead and collar] and he was gone.
'My senses were in overdrive, for a dog it might have been a bit too much.'
Louie's disappearance has been particularly difficult for 17-year-old Ellie as he provides support as a therapy dog for the teenager. Ellie has epilepsy and while Louie was originally brought into the family as a companion for her, he started to alert family members when Ellie was about to have a seizure.
'If I have a seizure he will lie in my bed across my chest or on my stomach to let me know that he's there. He'll alert someone if anything's going to happen, he can sense it. He will bang around to get anyone's attention,' she says. 'It's hard. It's odd walking into the house and he's not there.'
Ellie hasn't been able to face coming to many of the searches for Louie, 'I can't really deal with the disappointment of not finding him,' she said.
Louise, and Ellie's 12-year-old sister, Lara, have been doing most of the searching with help from the local community. 'If I'm not out searching I'm at home researching what I need and what to do and talking to people. People have been so generous lending us equipment. Honestly, I don't think I would have gotten through it without anybody's help.'
Word has travelled around Steall Falls as while they are out searching, a walker approaches Louise to ask if she is 'Louie's mum'; she has heard the story and wants to extend her sympathy.
The support has been overwhelming, she says. 'I put one post on Facebook the night he went missing and by the time I came back up here there were locals already out looking for him. Since then it's just grown.'
Many of the posters stuck to trees around the area were new to Louise. She said a neighbour had been out putting them up.
Volunteers have also been out searching with drones but have so far notfound anything. Another volunteer has also offered a thermal drone to try to find Louie over the weekend. It's not an easy route to search. Much of the path involves climbing over rocky terrain and the occasional trickles of water from the mountain above to the gorge below.
To get to the bottom of Steall Falls, the family either wade through the shallow river or walk the tightrope chain-bridge hoping Louie will be able to pick up their scent.
They were starting to lose hope after a week and a half of no sightings but last weekend a sniffer dog picked up his scent after smelling Louie's blanket. Hopes have been raised further as searchers heard barking on early Thursday morning echoing through the valley.
'I think he's gone into survival mode,' Louise says, 'When he realised nobody was here he's taken off and started fending for himself … until he gets my scent he won't come anywhere near me. Once he gets my scent and he comes closer to me apparently he will just snap out of it.'
Armed with dirty clothes covered with her scent, Louise is planning to camp out at Glen Nevis this weekend close to where Louie went missing to try to lure him back.
'He's got to be somewhere,' she says. 'When he turns up it'll be amazing.'
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