Cricket has Nicky Watson stumped

JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

STUMPED: Nicky Watson is still looking for her dog, Cricket.

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Laugh all you want, says Nicky Watson - she just wants her dog back.

"Some people just have no compassion and no understanding of what it's like to love a little, innocent being, and that's what Cricket is."

Internet blog sites and talkback hosts have mocked the the model and television personality's appeal for help to find the tiny chihuahua which has been her constant companion for nine years. Cricket sleeps with her, and eats the same fish, chicken and vegetables Watson cooks herself for dinner.

He disappeared on Saturday night last week at Matarangi, where she was attending a charity fundraiser.

Yesterday Watson, 30, spent the day in thick bush with Max and Karlos, the sausage dog and beagle with Cricket when he disappeared - hoping they would have more luck finding him than she has.

"We go out every day. Usually at first light, and when the sun's setting, because there's no wind, and the voice travels. But the bush is going to take a bit longer."

Watson, who has smothered the Whitianga area with fliers, is hoping Cricket has been taken in by someone who does not know he is missing.

"To me it's really hard to comprehend that people can't understand how you can love a dog. But it doesn't matter whether he's a dog, a cat, or a human, I've had him since he was a baby, and he's one of the most important things in the world to me."

Christchurch-born Watson says she's "beyond caring" that people are making fun of her loss - including the much publicised television interview where she replied, "No, my dog," to the interviewer who remarked "you're hoarse".

"To me, they don't have a heart . . . I'm just a country girl who rides her horses and loves her dogs. I don't go to celebrity parties, I don't seek media attention."

And now? Watson says she'll use her notoriety "until I'm blue in the face" to find her dog.

Watson's mother, Gail Robinson, says her daughter comes from a family of animal lovers. "I think the animal world is far better to deal with than the human race."

Robinson, who is housebound with a broken foot and cannot help with the search, says her daughter has been distraught since Cricket's midnight disappearance.

Robinson says she will not give up hope - Watson's first chihuahua, Gizmo, (now 13) once disappeared for five days from his Christchurch home, but eventually returned safe.