HUNDREDS of people hunted high and low for Wolfie, a terrified rescue dog from Greece, after he went missing for three weeks in the Forest.

But in the end, it was a two-year-old who found him and coaxed him to come home.

Little Noah Gamble from Cranborne had been attending mass at St Mary's and St Philip's church in Fordingbridge.

Noah was there with his dad Luke, 34, the senior partner at Pilgrims Vets, his mum Cordelia, 33, whose family are from Hyde, and his five-month-old sister Bathsheba.

When the family were leaving the church Noah ran off, with Luke in hot pursuit, and as his dad rounded the back of the church he heard Noah excitedly saying: "Dad! Dog! Dad! Dog!"

Luke said: "I looked and recognised Wolfie from the posters.

"I went up and talked to him for a few minutes, and got his confidence, then edged in and picked him up when he was nice and calm.

"We took him home and gave him a bath and some food, and he ran around with Noah and made friends with our great big ridgeback. Then I called the number on his collar."

Luke had to rush out to save a cow who had a potato wedged in his throat, then as soon as he returned he took Wolfie back to his relieved owners Sue and Grahame Stanford in Linford.

He added: "Oddly, Wolfie's poster had been sent to a charity I set up in 2003, the Worldwide Veterinary Service, which provides veterinary aid overseas, and we had provided drugs to the very charity that brought Wolfie over here - a real coincidence."

Sue, who had waited months to adopt Wolfie before he bolted from her garden a few hours after getting there, said: "Luke is a hero.

"I was so worried about who would catch Wolfie, in case they traumatised him even more, and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to find him.

"Luke even gave him a full check-up before bringing him back - I will definitely be using his practice from now on, because he was so wonderful."

Wolfie is very thin and tired after his adventures, and is recovering at Sue and Grahame's neighbour Alison Mills's home, because she runs a dog rescue charity. Alison was instrumental in the search for Wolfie and put up hundreds of posters appealing for people to look out for him.

She said: "People will be going out now to take the posters down, but if anyone is out walking in the area and sees a poster, please can you take it down."