Many of us have had the experience of losing sight of our dog as he races off in pursuit of something real or imagined, and we know the heart-stopping moment when you realise that after much calling and whistling, he really has disappeared. Of course, for most of us the terror is short-lived and we are flooded with relief when he comes bounding back towards us.

That was not the case for Mark Paterson of Glenrothes who lost track of his Bichon Frise, Sunny, while out for a walk. He searched in vain for his dog for several hours and as darkness fell he notified the police, put a message on Facebook and posted flyers asking people to look out for his pet.

He was lucky. His plight came to the attention of a group called Dana's Angels, who had a search party up and running within a matter of minutes.

His sister, Marion, said: "A girl called Chris volunteered right away to help then, all of a sudden, this group called Dana's Angels descended from on high and just went searching. It was non-stop after than with people looking morning, noon and night."

Sunny was, in fact, missing for 10 days, but those searching for him never gave up. The happy ending began in the evening when Sue Forrester, from Balmullo, received a call from fellow Dana's Angels member, Fiona Hay, asking her to check out a sighting of Sunny at Leuchars beach. Sue and her two children dashed immediately to the location. Sue said: "After parking we ran for half an hour to get to the beach, spent another hour running around on the beach and then we say paw prints in the sand. There were no human prints nearby so we just knew it was her.

"Beth saw Sunny dart out of the bushes and gave chase. We used a pincer movement and the poor dog was just too tired and stopped running long enough that Beth could grab her."

Dana's Angels came into being in January of 2016, named after Dana, a cross Chihuahua-Papillion rescue dog, who was also found against seemingly impossible odds. She was an ex-breeding dog who had been in a shed for four years before going to Second Chance Kennels in Kirkcaldy. Kennels owner, Ena Conyon, said: "In November 2015 a family came to take her. She was so scared, she had never been away from me." Ena was devestated to hear that less than 48 hours later, Dana had disappeared. She said: "We went straight out to look for her, with our wee dog, Alfie, who she loved."

Dana was missing for 17 nights through the worst of the winter weather, but Ena did not give up. She was joined in the search by a group of concerned people, who did not actually know each other, but knew of Second Chance Kennels and they looked for her for 17 days and 17 nights. Imagine their delight when they got a call from a farmer who found a dog matching her description that had made a den in one of his sheds.

Fiona Hay, who had joined that search and is now one of Dana's Angels administrators, said: "When we found Dana we realised we had all got to know each other so well, and had made these wonderful friendships."

Very soon afterwards, somebody phoned to say they had lost their Yorkshire terrier, Belle, while on holiday in the area, so the group were out on the hunt again.

That convinced Fiona that there was a need to be met, so she started the Facebook page, Dana's Angels. Its aim is to share lost and found dogs in the Fife area. She said: "If your pet goes missing, put in on our Facebook page. Lots of people will see it and we will make ourselves available and will search the area." They started with 50 members and now have more than 900 and are out looking for dogs every month (in July four went missing in just one weekend).

Fiona well remembers the search for Sunny. "She was a really difficult one to find," she said. "There are hundreds of acres of beach and forest. We all had tics on us and bites from walking through those forests. Finding her was just fabulous."

She is well aware that dogs can go missing for any number of reasons, and it is not always carelessness on the owner's part. She said: "Someone might walk past your garden gate and open it just for the sake of it. Visitors, or the postie might leave it open. If you're walking your dog off the lead and it gets a scent, it can be off."

Dana's Angels come from all walks of life and are all volunteers. But they do not hesitate when the call comes. Fiona said: "We love our animals. Believe me, if someone said there was a wee calf missing, we would be out looking for it." The facebook page is called Dana's Angels Fife.