A DOG owner has hit out at her council’s dog warden service after a “nightmare” two days.

Ali Keeble-Smith’s 10-year-old Jack Russell Flossie ran away from home on New Year’s Eve – she believes she was spooked by fireworks.

Mrs Keeble-Smith spent the next day searching for Flossie and calling the police to find out where Flossie was.

She only found out on January 2 that Flossie had been found minutes after going missing on her road, Upthorpe Drive in Wantage.

She said a neighbour had called the police on 101, and a Vale of White Horse District Council dog warden had taken Flossie, who has a microchip with her owner’s address on it, to kennels in Kidlington.

Mrs Keeble-Smith, 55, said when she asked the kennels why she had not been called sooner, she was told staff could not get hold of the company which keeps dog owners’ contact details because it was a Bank Holiday.

The mum-of-one, who is planning to make a formal complaint to the Vale, said: “The process has been absolutely awful.”

She said the kennels scanned the dog’s chip but couldn’t get the phone number because it was a Bank Holiday.”

A Vale spokeswoman said: “The council strongly advises residents to provide their dog with a collar tag with the owner’s details, as well as a microchip, as it often means that dogs can be returned to their owners without having to involve the council or dog wardens.”