I’m a dog expert – here’s why Nicola Bulley’s beloved pet was running back and forth when she went missing
A DOG expert has revealed why Nicola Bulley's pet spaniel ran back and forth when the mum-of-two went missing.
Nicola, 45, was last seen walking her pooch Willow in St Michael's on Wyre, , on January 27 before disappearing.
Canine behaviour expert Nina Bondarenko has now explained why Willow was found pacing the area where her owner is believed to have vanished from.
Nina told the that the strange behaviour was linked to the "flushing" behaviour of spaniels.
She said: "They’re bred for hunt and retrieve, and they’re bred to flush out game, so they have to be very amenable to being handled at a distance, they have to be responsive at a distance.
"They were never bred as guard . Some of the bigger hunt and retrieve breeds were but these were never, they were always just jolly, intense little working dogs, flushing out game."
READ MORE ON NICOLA BULLEY
Asked why Willow stayed near the bench where her leash and Nicola's phone were found, Nina added that it sounds like the loyal pet "wasn’t sure what to do" and so stayed near a "familiar smell".
The pooch has been the subject of much speculation, especially regarding why the dog was dry if, as police suspect, Nicola fell into the River Wyre.
However, a second canine behaviour expert, Ross McCarthy, told the : "It all depends on the dog’s association with water and their relationship with the owner and so on, as to whether they would jump in.
"Presumably this dog has been walked along the canal and water often and been discouraged from going in or naturally just avoided going in. It would be a strange occurrence from the dog’s perspective - but outside of Disney and in exceptional cases - dogs don't jump in to save owners."
Most read in The Sun
It comes after the search for Nicola was widened to up to 20 miles away from where she was last seen, and a new lead came to light regarding a "shabby red van" in the area at the time.
What happened to Nicola Bulley?
Nicola disappeared while walking Willow in rural Lancashire in January.
Cops believe that she fell into the River Wyre that morning.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a long black gilet jacket with a hood and had her hair tied in a ponytail.
She had black jeans on with olive green ankle wellies.
Nicola's phone and the dog's lead were found on a bench nearby.
She was last seen at 9.10am that morning.
Superintendent Sally Riley of Lancashire Police confirmed there is a ten minute window where they cannot account for Nicola's movements, amid fears she left the path in a CCTV blackspot.
This is between the last confirmed sighting at 9.10am, and 9.20am when Nicola's phone was connected to a work call on the bench.
Police divers and external experts have searched the river around St Michael's, with no success.
Underwater search expert Peter Faulding issued a heartbreaking update, saying the missing mum "may never be found" as his team dramatically pulled out of the case.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The hunt has now been widened as far as Morecambe Bay, Fleetwood, with cops taking to dinghies to scour the coastline for any sign of Nicola.
The Sun Online has produced a full timeline of the case with every detail available.
