EVERY dog has his day – but unfortunately for Vinnie it was seven and they were spent down a badger sett.

The curious canine darted down the hole while out for a walk on Southborough Common last Saturday.

The anxious Taylor family, of Doric Avenue, had almost given up hope after a firefighters' search and rescue effort two days later showed no sign of the errant hound.

But on Friday the weary Welsh terrier turned up on their doorstep "stinking of badger, covered in ticks and very thirsty" said Di Taylor, 45.

She said she was at home on Saturday with daughters Rhiannon, 13, and Mahrie, 11, when the wanderer returned.

"My daughter called out 'He's here' and I ran out of my bedroom and there he was in the hall. It was total disbelief. He came up the steps and banged into the side. We all just collapsed and cried in a heap."

Hot on his heels was a man who had been working on the common who had spotted Vinnie drinking from a ditch near the sett and recognised him from the 'missing' posters. The man was unable to catch him, but instead tailed him for five minutes as he trotted home.

On the day Vinnie disappeared, Mrs Taylor's husband Simon had tried to grab his tail as he dived down the hole. He waited for more than an hour by the hole but the dog had "vanished".

Neighbours, friends and family all joined in the search and three days later a licence was granted for search and rescue firefighters to put a rod camera down parts of the badger sett.

Mrs Taylor, a nurse at St James Medical Centre and at Dunorlan Medical Centre in Tonbridge, said: "There was no sign of life, no barking, no scuffling, no whining, nothing. I thought he must be dead, suffocated, buried himself or attacked by a badger. I got that eerie feeling."

As the days passed, the family braced themselves for the worst.

But losing one-fifth of his body mass is probably what saved Vinnie. His family think it allowed him to wriggle his way out of the hole.

Now back at home and following a trip to the vet, a bath, and meals little and often, he is starting to make a slow but steady recovery.

The family may have to wait a little longer until he's back on barking form.

"He's gone a bit mute," said Mrs Taylor.

"When the postman comes, he's not barking, it's just a little whining!"