A runaway Border Collie has been reunited with its owner after two days thanks to drone-flying pet detectives who lured her out of hiding with roast chicken.

Two-year-old Remy was on her way to her new home when she bolted from a horse transporter after her new owner stopped at a service station on the M1.

New owner, farmer Frances Kerr, 52, was taking a short break on the long trip from Yorkshire to Sussex on Monday, April 7.

When she returned to her vehicle, Frances found someone had opened the boot – and Remy had bolted.

She said: "I just thought, ‘Oh my god that's it, I'll never see her again.'"

The terrified new owner took to social media to appeal for help finding her dog – which caught the attention of volunteer pet detectives K9-RSQ.

The group, which uses traps and drones to reunite owners with their pets, used a drone to find her tucking in to a dead pheasant half a mile away – having ignored traps baited with roast chicken.

Frances said: "They're amazing, amazing people. I don't think I've ever met such a team of amazing people."

"It was unbelievable. "

"They were amazing with the drone, on the footage you could see her eating something."

"You could see her going along in the same path, it was almost like it was a complete loop waiting until we managed to catch her."

Group co-ordinator Craig Dent, 59, who runs the group with his brother, Glen, headed up the search.

The group deployed remotely monitored traps loaded with roast chicken, which volunteers can monitor and even lock remotely from their smartphones.

However, when Remy hadn't taken the bait by the end of Tuesday, Craig made the call to draft in drone pilots to the scene.

Just 90 minutes after launching the three drones, Remy was spotted – allowing Craig and the dog's former owner Marian to close in before she was reunited with Frances.

He said: "Remy was near the M1, but she was a bit smarter than your average dog. She was a working dog from a farm, that's why she got sold – she's a working dog."

"She was smart, she knew not to run along the carriageway, she was running right along the edge of the inside lane, where there was no hard shoulder."

"When dogs are near the motorway, every second counts."

While he is currently in the UK, Craig usually spends his time living in Budapest, Hungary.

However, he doesn't let that stop him helping out on searches.

Just two months ago, Craig helped to trap Milo, a lost dog in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, while sat at home over 1,500 miles away in the Hungarian capital.

Craig said: "I was in my living room in Budapest and my brother called me and said ‘I've got to leave, can you watch the trap for 30 minutes?'"

"Within about 15 minutes, I got a ping on my phone and Milo was at the trap."

"I watched him go in and I trapped him from Budapest."

Craig says reuniting dogs with their owners is extremely rewarding.

He added: "You get hooked to it. Once you do one and you get the dog back, it's an amazing feeling."

"Be it with the drone, like Remy – getting the owner to that very spot where she was, or whether it's trapping the dog."

"Once you've got the dog safe, it's just an amazing feeling."

The group is now hoping to raise money for a new thermal drone with better image quality and battery life, in an effort to save more dogs.

A fundraiser set up to help the group buy the drone has raised more than £3,000.

Fundraiser link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/darcys-drone-fundraiser-k9rsq-lost-dog-search-team