Couple pay £4,000 to rescue stray pup

A British couple spent £4,000 adopting a starving puppy who followed them for eight hours as they trekked across an extinct volcano.

Jonathan Cooksley, 43, and wife Nicola, 47, fell in love with the Portuguese pointer during their trek in Sao Miguel in the Azores.

They grew so fond of the pooch they adopted him and named him Mears after TV survival expert Ray Mears, reports the Daily Telegraph.

He followed them up a mountainside, through undergrowth, across a volcanic lake and - finally - back to their hotel.

Once there, the Cooksleys, who have never owned a dog before, planned to turn Mears over to an animal pound but were told that, if they did, he would be put down.

So now - after being flown to Britain - Mears is going through six months in quarantine kennels before beginning a new life in Dorset.

"We think it is all worth it," said Mrs Cooksley, 47, a recruitment consultant, from Dorchester.

The mother of two, who makes daily, 30-mile trips to visit Mears in quarantine, added: "He is such a lovely dog. Only one person has told us we must be mad - everyone else says it is a lovely story."

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