The cocker spaniel cross jack russell is the loved seven-year-old fur-baby Exeter’s of Ian and Margaret Taylor. 

Eight weeks ago, the trio’s lives were literally turned upside down when the car they were travelling in hit loose gravel and flipped.

 Zoe was so scared that she ran away. 

“The fire brigade and everyone else looked around, and my daughter went back to the area so many times day after day and we couldn’t find the dog,” Mrs Taylor said.  

“By six weeks we had given up. I thought she might have been injured in the accident and might have had internal injuries.”

The couple received minor injuries in the crash.

Two months after the crash, Mrs Taylor was at home when she got the call. 

“This couple were going fishing along Bakers Beach, which is in the same area, and saw notices saying that there was a lost dog,” she said.

“Lo and behold, they saw this little dog trotting up the road. They stopped and called the dog over and she still had all her ID tags on and her collar with the phone number. They kindly rang us and asked if we owned a little dog.”

With that, the rescuers brought Zoe straight home.

Mrs Taylor said she did not believe it until she saw Zoe walk through the door, like nothing had happened. 

“It’s been a long six weeks without a car, but it was worse being without Zoe [for eight weeks],” she said.

“She really is part of the family, it’s really great to have her home again.

“The night she was brought home we walked through the front door, said a quick hello and then ran straight into the kitchen to see what was in her food bowl.

“She still sleeps on the end of the bed, goes out for the paper every morning with my husband.”

Apart from a few ticks, and a lot of weight loss, the vet said Zoe would make a full recovery. 

But for now, she’s getting the royal treatment – special protein food, and the occasional treat of chicken.

“Everybody [in the community] was so concerned about us, the car accident and Zoe,” Mrs Taylor said. 

“Every time you see people up the street they would say ‘have you found your little dog yet?’

“Now we can rejoice and say ‘yes’.”