Christmas came early for a Leamington family.
Alice Broadfield has praised her local postman for his quick actions in finding her family's missing dog – Peggy.
Peggy, a bullmastiff, escaped the Broadfield family's Kenilworth Road back garden last week on Wednesday December 4.
Alice and her family spent the next 24 hours contacting the police, the dog warden and passing out missing dog posters around the neighbourhood. Peggy was even added to the Dog Lost website, which is listed as the UK's largest lost and found dog service.
She also asked her local postman, Steve Malin, for help too.
Alice said: “I just mentioned it to him and he said 'he'd keep an eye out for her because he's found dogs before.'
“Then he just turned up at my door half a half hour later with our dog.”
Peggy's return was like a Christmas miracle come true for Alice. Peggy had escaped the family's back garden with another family dog, Dave a black labrador retriever, who has a history of escaping. Several hours later Dave returned home without Peggy.
Alice was so grateful to be reunited with the one-year-old Peggy that she tried calling the postal service to thank them for her postman service. Without much success in those efforts she called the Leamington Courier.
She added: “I wanted to say thank you to this lovely man. I think he's gone above and beyond the call of duty.
“It's a nice Christmas story. I have to say it's restored my faith in humanity.”
Steve Malin, who has been the postman for the Kenilworth Road area for two years, took the Missing Dog poster off Alice, and within half an hour he spotted Peggy 200 yards away behind some nearby flats close to the Northumberland Road junction.
Steve said: “I got down on my haunches and called it and talked to it nicely. She kept coming and going, but then in the end she did come to me.
“I got me hand on its collar, and I was just praying she didn't get away again.”
By delivering more than just the post Steve said it was all part of his job to help people. It's the third dog Steve has rescued in his 14 years of serving as a postman.
He added: “I thought if I see the dog I'm going to try my hardest to find it. It's part of the job for me to help if I can.
“I've had a really bad week because I've been diagnosed with cancer again. So this has really cheered me up.
“I'm like an old fashioned postman and if somebody needs me I'll try and help them.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Every day we receive reports of our people going above and beyond in the communities they serve.
“Steve's help in reuniting a customer with her dog, is yet another example of this. We are proud of the work our people do in the community, which often goes far beyond simply delivering mail and parcels."
Alice also thanked her neighbours, friends and the local dog wardens from the Warwick District Council for their quick response and help in the search for Peggy.
She added: “What's incredible about this is how so many people came together to help.”
