It had been 80 days when Steve Velterop finally got the call. A call he didn’t think would ever come.

It was the local vet, telling him the greatest news he could hear; Henry, his 11-month-old rescue Dachshund had been found in a shed on a property in Banjup, a full suburb away from his home in Atwell.

Henry went missing on January 29, when Mr Velterop closed the door just before the puppy made it inside.

By the time Mr Velterop had counted his dogs and realised he was one down, a neighbour had already approached Henry, causing him to flee.

“I know people are trying to do the right thing, but when you approach a dog, you put them in flight mode,” Mr Velterop says.

K9 Welfare Group founder Calli Clinton says flight mode happens when a scared dog is approached or called, their instinct being to run away.

“When you lose a dog, your first reaction may be to go for a walk around, calling for it,” Ms Clinton says.

“But that can scare off the dog, only making things worse.”

She says going for a long walk can also spread your scent and confuse the dog, who relies on smell to navigate back home.

Ms Clinton says it is best to stay calm, stay home, make a meal that could draw the dog back to your house, and contact an organisation who can advise you on your next steps.

Soon after Henry went missing from the house on Windchime Terrace, the sightings began.

The first leads came from neighbours: footage of him running past security cameras; locals posting about the dog they saw “the other day”. He had already been spotted as far as Atwell College, over a kilometer from his home.

Mr Velterop was hopeful, walking over 25,000 steps around the neighbourhood so Henry would recognise his scent or voice, and come running back.

“I was calling out for him, which now I know would only scare him away. But I was scared, I was desperate, I didn’t know better yet,” he says.

But after a few weeks of regular sightings, the trail went cold.

“I searched for 2 weeks, but there was just nothing. No sightings, nothing being reported online, nobody saw a dog running by. Nothing,” says Mr Velterop.

“I honestly thought he was gone, that he was finished. I told myself he was safe, drinking swamp water on someone’s property in Banjup. But deep down, I feared the worst.”

Steve Velterop

Mr Velterop, an ex-serviceman, says it was the most stressed he had ever been.

“I was keeping my garage door open, leaving food in there, and some old clothes so that Henry would pick up the scent,” he says.

“And one day I got a knock on my door, about 3 weeks ago now, and it was my neighbour saying she thinks there has been a sighting.”

Mr Velterop’s neighbour introduced him to the Cockburn Pets and Wildlife Facebook community.

“She showed me a post, asking if it could be him, I got pretty excited, so I put up a lost and found post that night, and reports started flooding in,” he says.

“That’s when I met Leanne.”

Leanne Stickland founded and runs the Cockburn Pets and Wildlife community as a volunteer.

“When a puppy goes missing, there’s a lot more that goes into it than people realise,” Ms Stickland says.

“A lot more goes on behind the scenes.”

Ms Stickland already knew a Dachshund was at large, and was looking for the owner when she came accross Mr Velterop.

She says the first sighting she saw was of Henry running across Tapper Road, a major road in Atwell, on April 10.

“It wasn’t just one sighting, it was two, and as soon as I saw them I remembered that someone had lost their sausage dog over a month ago,” she says.

By then, the puppy was very thin. Ms Stickland says she knew it had to be found as soon as possible.

“Especially with him crossing a busy road, we knew it wasn’t an ideal situation,” she says.

“So I organised local community members, who set up traps and feeding stations.”

Atwell resident Ellie Sullivan was one of the locals who joined the search.

Ms Sullivan posted a video of a Dachshund captured by her Ring doorbell, and Ms Stickland reached out, confirming it was Henry, who had been missing for 10 weeks.

“I started leaving out food and water for him,” Ms Sullivan says.

“And later dentist sticks, and Steve was leaving out cooked chicken for him.”

“He came to my house three, maybe four times. When we set the trap, he managed to take the food out without triggering it. Then the next night, the doorbell camera died,” she says.

Ms Stickland says the community effort to find Henry was unprecedented.

“I’m really proud of Atwell, and Cockburn. It’s a very special community,” she says.

The search effort wasn’t just pivotal in narrowing down Henry’s location, it also provided hope for Mr Velterop and the community that had grown to care deeply for Henry.

Banjup resident Rikki Howley says she heard a sound coming from her shed, and when she investigated, she saw a tiny nose poking out from the corner.

“He was just so skinny. I fed him, but not too much, as I knew that was dangerous,” Ms Howley says.

“I got him a blanket and went to pick him up. I’ll be honest, I was certain he was going to bite me.”

Ms Howley, her partner Brett Watts, and daughter Riley, took Henry straight to the vet to check for microchips and get him assessed.

“I ran in there quick. I told the vet, “I need help, it’s an emergency, quick! Can you help me please!””

Rikki Howley

Mr Velterop received the long-awaited call from the vet on April 18. Henry had been found on a property in Banjup, curled up in a shed, tired, and hungry.

It was 9:35 in the morning when he got the call, dropping everything to be reunited with Henry after 80 long days.

“I was absolutely stunned and bewildered, I just couldn’t believe it. I asked them when I could go and see him, they said “straight away.””

Steve Velterop

Valerie the Dachshund made international headlines after being rescued from Kangaroo Island after 529 days in the wilderness.

Steve Velterop says he has so much gratitude for the Atwell community, who not only helped find Henry, but gave him hope when he felt like it was lost.

“It’s very difficult to express in words the appreciation I have for everyone,” he says.

“Not just the direct helpers, but everyone who looked out for him, reached out for kind words, even those who just read and shared my story.”

“I just wanted to say thank you to the Atwell community. Absolute City of Cockburn spirit, that we are so used to seeing,” Leanne Stickland says.

“I think the community should be very proud of themselves.”

Henry is now home safe and recovering, and Mr Velterop says he’ll be keeping a close eye on the door every time it closes.