ANIMAL lovers from Malmesbury spent three weeks gaining the trust of a stray dog living in a field to give her a chance to find her forever home.

Last month, Sue Franklin, 43, from Malmesbury was driving along Murcott Lane when a Lurcher ran across the road.

She got out of the car and saw how thin and skittish the dog was and decided it needed help.

She enlisted the help of the good people of the town and herself and Nicola Reynolds, 49, spend many mornings and evenings feeding the dog, which they named Blondie, and gaining her trust so they could catch her.

"We did an organised search for her and saw her in a field. She was incredibly skittish," Mrs Reynolds explained. "We thought we could just feed her and catch her but it wasn't going to be like that so we were happy she had eaten and we left her some water."

Mrs Franklin added: "We started going in the mornings and she would be waiting. She would pop her head out of the hedge when we drove up and we would put the food down for her and go.

"We would go back at about 5:30pm and spend a bit longer with her, trying to get closer to her.

"We were trying to establish her trust and it enabled us to spend more time with her.

"She often lay six to eight feet away from us but we still couldn't touch her yet, but soon she was eating out of our hand."

However, within three weeks of finding Blondie, along with some help of other Malmesbury residents, they were able to successful put a lead around Blondie and she was taken to Bath Cats and Dogs Home where it hopefully won't be long before she finds a loving family to take care of her.

Mrs Franklin said: "It was almost like she was relieved to be caught.

"She was quite content it was amazing.

"She is a beautiful dog we don't think it will take her long to find a forever home."