Lost beagle found 22 days later

After 22 days of searching Bee, the missing Beagle, has been reunited with its owner.

The female tri-coloured beagle was found on Monday just two houses along from where she was last seen on State Highway 2 near Katikati.

She went missing on January 31 when her foster parents were visiting family near Katikati.

Friends and family put up posters, placed radio ads and scoured the area in an attempt to find the missing pup.

Owner Melissa Taylor, who was overseas when Bee went missing, returned to New Zealand early to lead the ground search.

Soon after touching down in Auckland on Friday Ms Taylor received a phone call signalling Bee had been sighted next to a tractor parked in a farm shed on a neighbouring property to the one she went missing from.

When approached she ran through the fence into an adjacent property.

A group of neighbours immediately searched the area but had no luck.

Ms Taylor and her partner Sam Wikaire headed to where he was last spotted and spent the next two days scouring the land and even camped overnight with the hopes of attracting their missing pup.

A search party of ten volunteers and two dogs joined them on February 21 before winding up feeling satisfied that they had made their presence known for Bee to find them.

Bee was finally found on Monday by a neighbour who saw the dog in her property while hanging her washing out. Bee ran into the neighbour's laundry to scoff some cat biscuits and the woman closed the door behind her.

To be honest, I had a lot of private moments where part of me thought, 'I will never see her again'.

Melissa Taylor

Bee was picked up later in the day and was deemed to be in good health.

"She had a vet check and she is fine just a few minor skin irritations. She lost 1.5kgs and looks much more smaller than she used to be," she said.

Ms Taylor and her partner Sam said they had been "blown away" by the community support they received toward the search for their missing dog.

"To the people and communities of Katikati, Waihi, Tauranga and beyond... People who searched, drove by, made phone calls, posted adverts, distributed flyers, wrote articles, spread the word, sent messages of support and more, I cannot thank you enough for your contribution to help bring little Bee home. Sam and I have been blown away by the kindness and generosity of everyone involved from our friends and family to those who were total strangers," she wrote on social media.

During the search Melissa's mother Donna Best, had also been ringing "everyone from the Katikati local phone book" to help her daughter recover her beloved puppy.

"Her disappearance put a lot of people at grief," she said last week.

"To be honest, I had a lot of private moments where part of me thought, 'I will never see her again'," Ms Taylor said.

"I won't let her go for some time now."

Ms Taylor said she now planned to write a children's book that tells the story of Bee's Big Adventure and that is dedicated to those who went above and beyond for us and our little dog.