Missing Flossie: Appeal over lost dog goes viral, and attracts support from Brenda Blethyn and Rachel Riley

Nick Keeley and Gill Scott have been helped by an army of supporters to raise awareness of Flossie. Their Border Terrier cross went into a bush on the dunes at Ranch Links and has not been seen since about 2.30pm on September 2 last year.

Both the Flossie is Missing from Blyth Facebook page and Flossie Come Home Twitter page are providing updates and to help with the search, Gill’s dad Jim Scott, 91, agreed to have a picture of him holding Flossie's missing poster posted on both platforms.

Gill says in her post about Jim: “Every time we speak he asks me if there is any news about Flossie and tells me he always looks for her when he's out.”

The posts have been seen by 1.5million people and shared about 25,000 times. The latter number includes celebrities such as Vera actress Brenda Blethyn and Countdown presenter Rachel Riley.

Nick and Gill said: “We had no idea that Jim appearing on social media would have such an impact.

“He has been so upset about Flossie's disappearance and recently asked if there was anything he could do to help, which led to the posts.

“He's so thrilled that his appeal has reached 1.5million people, which is 10 times more than any other post we have previously put out, and with the celebrity retweets.

“His love for Flossie seems to have really touched people's hearts.”

They added: “Our wonderful support team are tireless in their efforts to keep Flossie's story in the public eye.

“They are postering, handing out fliers and targeting high profile events such as the Hoppings. One key supporter has been contacting vets all across the country with Flossie's details.

“We increased the reward for her return to £15,000, which inevitably led to more hoax calls, but we have learnt to endure these.

“We all remain hopeful that our efforts will reach that person who knows where Flossie is and that we will get her back.”