Dog lovers across the 4551 breathed a collective sigh of relief as beloved pet greyhound “Spud” was found safe and well on 10 January after he went missing on New Years Eve.

Spud escaped from a Little Mountain property during the new year’s fireworks and miraculously survived for 10 days before being tracked and rescued in Caloundra bushland by a team of dedicated volunteers.

Spud’s owner Kieran Delaney said the return of the two-year-old former racing greyhound had “restored his faith in humanity”.

“I can’t believe it,” Mr Delaney said.

“Thank you so much to the whole community for looking out for him, and especially to the team of ladies who spent their own time and money tracking him and getting him home.”

“This team of volunteers were working on finding him every second, even when I was at work – setting up cameras and putting food and scent stations out for him.”

Mr Delaney said the vet cleared Spud of any major health concerns, although he had lost around six kilos during his adventure.

“He’s been eating and sleeping a lot since he came home, and acting as if he’d never left,” Mr Delaney said.

“I did wonder if his pedigree had something to do with his ability to survive so long.”

“Spud” was a nickname the trainer had given him as a former racing dog called “Raptors Magic”.

“He wasn’t a champion racer before I adopted him, but I won’t let him hear me say that,” Mr Delaney said.

Annette Ross, a renowned Sunshine Coast dog tracker, worked with Coolum tracker Andrea Gray and Caloundra tracker Jane Chalmers and others in the community to bring Spud home.

Many of the tracking volunteers belong to a Sunshine Coast group called “Remembering Gomez”, dedicating their time and money to tracking vulnerable dogs.

Ms Ross said Spud was in “survival mode” during his ordeal and tracking him required leaving a scent trail using Kieran’s clothes.

“I was carrying about four pairs of Kieran’s underwear around Caloundra for days,” Ms Ross said.

“Once a dog gets a fright like Spud did, it’s like flicking a switch.

“You can no longer call out their name for retrieval, nothing like that works.

“Domesticated dogs go into their wild state and you have to be very careful about how you approach them.

“With Spud we had cameras out and we had some sightings but, in the end, I got a call from a bloke who almost hit him in his car and Andrea and Jane were able to flush him out and corner him – a lot of it is luck and timing.

“The community is incredibly important in these kinds of rescues, and we rely very much on their sightings and their help to track these dogs.”

During the 10 days Spud was missing, the team also aided in the rescue of four other missing Sunshine Coast dogs.