THIS is the amazing moment missing sprocker spaniel Cookie is reunited with her owners thanks to a team of amateur pet detectives.

Cookie, who is three years old, was missing from her St Helens home for four days, but was returned to her thanks to a band of volunteers who make it their mission to search for lost pets and take them back home.

The volunteers search for the missing dogs in groups and use drones to track lost dogs.

The moment was captured by BBC Inside Out North West, who followed one group in Liverpool who found and reunited Cookie with her family.

Her owner, Debbie Lake, said: “The main thing is that the community have pulled together, they don’t even know us, it’s all about the little dog, they’ve pulled together out of the kindness of their hearts.

"It just puts your faith back in humanity.”

The group who helped find Cookie was started by Donna Ryan, from Frodsham, who set up Bindi’s Lost and Found Pets when her sproodle Bindi was found after going missing for five days.

The group's success also benefits the dog owners financially, as losing a dog means you could incur fees from dog wardens.

Donna added: “The fee starts at anything from £68 to over a hundred. What we try to do is stop that from happening. We don’t want them to go to the kennels. We would rather reunite before the warden takes them.

“The community is amazing. Every family has said to me, I can’t believe that many people would come out. It restores your faith in community.”

Although the group are amateur trackers, they have a lot of professional search equipment like a drone fitted with infrared technology that helps scour the thick undergrowth for heat signatures and to search in impossible to reach areas.

To see the full story watch BBC Inside Out North West Monday, January 29 at 7.30pm on BBC One.