Two schoolchildren rescued a run-away pooch from a stream after it had given a family the run-around all over the Three Towns.

The Davidson clan were given Rue the dog to look after while their friends were on holiday.

The nervous puppy was dropped off last Wednesday night but as the kids were leaving for school the next morning, Rue saw an opportunity to escape the Stevenston home.

Mum Diane said: “My daughter wasn’t expecting this dog to just run out the door.

“The kids chased after her but they couldn’t keep up with her.”

The frantic search began, with Diane, her husband and the children splitting up to search for Rue, even drafting in their own dog Skyler for help.

First, they tried the area around Auchenharvie Leisure Centre.

Diane said: “We spoke to hundreds of people asking if they had seen a wee white dog.”

Following sightings of the nervous puppy, the family headed towards Saltcoats.

Diane’s son Josh spotted Rue in Cunninghame Crescent before losing him at Jack’s Park.

Diane said: “We were terrified. One minute we were positive we would get her, the next minute it was overwhelming grief at the thought we’d never see her again.”

A sighting posted on Facebook took the Davidsons to Ardrossan Cemetery, but once again Rue evaded capture.

The family spent the entire day searching and chasing the dog and the closer to sunset it got the more afraid they became.

After the school bell rang at St Matthew’s Academy, 14-year-old Teigan Rennie started home but spotted a white puppy covered in mud run behind a van.

She had been asked if she had seen a missing dog that morning, instantly drew the connection and gave chase.

Teigan and another St Matthew’s pupil, fourth year Scott Coulter, followed Rue into the Plantation.

The frightened pup jumped into Stanley Burn and attempted to swim upstream before becoming stuck by a rock.

Teigan and Scott, without hesitation, jumped into the stream.

Teigan told the Herald: “If it was my dog, I would want someone to do the same.

“We were trying to put a lead around her and she kept biting our hands.”

Eventually the pair managed to get Rue free of the rock and on to dry land.

Teigan wrapped her jumper round the soaking wet pooch and handed her to Lynn Turner, who had come to help.

Teigan’s mum, Donna, was wondering where she had got to. She said: “I started to wonder why she hadn’t come home and the next thing I saw her, she was absolutely soaking. I thought someone had been fighting with her.”

Donna was so proud of the kids, as was Diane who said she was overwhelmed by their fast action.

She said: “A wee dog running about for eight hours - she was cold scared and exhausted.

“If they didn’t go into the stream, we probably wouldn’t have caught her.”