RUMOUR FILE CONFIRMED

The Mountjoys had given up.

Their beloved dog Axle, a friend to all the regulars at the Harrietville Snowline Hotel, had been missing two days in country littered with mines and other traps.

Hours of searching had proved futile.

“My wife and I had shed a tear or two,” Bennett Moutjoy told 3AW Breakfast this morning.

But a visiting friend urged them to go for one more patrol.

Photo: Axle looking a bit sorry for himself on the trip home from his rescue after days lost in the bush

Hours later, from deep down below the earth, Bennett heard a miracle.

“I just heard this faint whimper in the bushes – I thought my mind was playing tricks on me,” he said.

“It’s a complete freak of luck.”

And then it took a team effort to get him out.

Click PLAY above to hear Bennett tell the full story.

“It’s been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster,” he said.