For a pet lover, losing his pets is a heartbreaking point, and they try to do everything they can to keep their beloved animals safe and near them.

Alan Whitton, a 50-year-old Essex resident, has always had a soft spot for animals. Despite being a life coach by trade, he’ll coyly admit that he prefers the company of animals. Last year, Alan had to ᴜɴᴅᴇʀɢᴏ the suffering of having a pet pass. When Tinker had to be put down, Alan was distraught. His only refuge during this time was his other dog, a Jack Rusell mix dubbed “Mitzi.” Having both lost a friend, they spent a lot of time together trying to console the other. Through this bonding, the pair became inseparable.  “I call her my business partner because she is always with me, by my side,” Alan told Essex Live.

But ᴛʀᴀɢᴇᴅʏ sᴛʀɪᴋes again when 1-year-old Mitzi was walking down a park with Alan when she started to run after another dog was chasing her. The poor man looked out for his beloved dog all day but had no luck, it seemed like the dog got disappeared without a trace. He eventually left the area at around 6:30 pm, before returning again an hour later with his wife and two children. “I didn’t want to go home without her,” Alan said. “But it was late we had to.”

As this was the first time Mitzi had ever gone missing, Alan couldn’t help but think the worst. The dog-lover said he was unable to sleep all night as he ‘thought she was going to ᴅ.ɪ.ᴇ’ in the cold weather. ‘It was ʜ.ᴇ.ʟʟɪsʜ,’ he explained. The search continued but no luck, so he started plastering the area with missing posters, hoping the community will help him find his pet.

When all hopes seem lost Alan received a call from a dog walker informing him that her dog keeps sniffing around a fox hole. Alan praying for a miracle went out to the sight and heard a familiar whimpering coming from the hole, it was his Mitzi.

Once Alan got to the area, he immediately knew he had found Mitzi. He heard the bark of his best friend. But he didn’t know exactly where she was, or if she was hurt. He crawled on his knees until he found the right passage.

Strangers came to help the man to dig up his dog: “I needed shovels, the lady who called me kindly gave me one and I started digging,” Alan said. “The people started turning up to help, it was amazing.” Strangers started gathering around and helping dig out the ground. They got shovels and they got to work. It was a difficult process, but they finally managed to pull the un-injured dog out of the ground.

Alan finds Mitzi and grabs her with difficulty but manages to pull her out, he breaks down crying and hugging her the locals are all so happy to witness this emotional reunion, the best thing was the dog wasn’t hurt physically. “I just broke down, I was overwhelmed with joy and disbelief, I had started to lose hope,” Alan told Essex Live. “It was like a Christmas miracle, all the time it felt like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.