Couple's search for missing dogs takes to the sky

Alan Funnell and Louisa Andrew arranged a banner appealing for information about their missing dogs to be flown over the Blues-Chiefs game at Eden Park today. Photo / Brett Phibbs, photosport.co.nz

A couple desperate to be reunited with their two missing dogs have plastered a plea across the sky over Auckland this afternoon.

Alan Funnell and Louisa Andrew have been searching for their missing pets — 9-year-old black poodle Dice and 3-year-old fox terrier cross Weed — since their disappearance on October 17 last year.

Their search has made headlines here around the world – and today, it continued with an aerial banner being flown over Auckland after an hour and a half in the air.

The banner – reading Dice and Weed Bring Them Home Facebook – was flown over Howick, Mission Bay, Takapuna and Waitakere, before being carried for three laps over the Blues vs Chiefs game at Eden Park this afternoon.

The Otago Peninsula couple have already spent more than $20,000 on their effort.

"We've done posters, signs, all sorts of things… we thought the population in Auckland is big, and the more people who know about them, the better," Funnell said today.

"We are not rich people, but we love our animals."

Funnell said the banner had prompted a flurry of messages on social media, but so far, no new leads.

Dice (right) and Weed went missing from home on the Otago Peninsula, Dunedin on October 17, 2019. Photo / Supplied

They're now pushing on with plans for new signs around the South Island.

Funnell said whoever had the dogs could drop them to a vet clinic and leave a message.

"We don't want to prosecute them and we don't want them to feel afraid – we just want our dogs back."

The only reported sighting of the dogs since their disappearance came in November, when a report emerged of the two dogs tied to the inside of a white van at the Ocean View freedom camping park.

People can support the search through the couples' Facebook and Givealittle pages.