IT really was a Happy New Year for one Seaton family, who were reunited with their beloved springer spaniel Merlin following a 'medical episode' in which the dog ran away from home.

Merlin was reunited with his delighted owners Daniel and Pam, alongside his 'brothers' Riley and Willow, at around 1am on January 2 following a 16-hour search and extensive social media appeal for the much-loved pooch.

Daniel Horsley let Merlin out with the other two at around 9am on New Year's Day morning. But the youngest of the three dogs collapsed onto the grass before having a seizure.

The medical episode apparently caused the dog to fail to recognise his owner and he bolted from the home.

After Daniel shared a post on a social media page for the village it went viral, with well-known west Cumbrian Mackenzie Leder - also known as Kenzie's K9 animal search & rescue - also responding to the call for help.

By the afternoon, almost a hundred people were in Seaton looking for the pet, with drones deployed and foot searches in the village and surrounding areas, as well as thermal imaging cameras coming in when darkness fell.

As it got darker, Daniel was advised to lay a trail of clothing, toys and personal belongings from around the home in a bid to get Merlin home.

Daniel said: "On the loss of light I was advised to lay a trail using the contents of my Henry hoover bag and make my way home just over a 10-minute walk.

"The idea being that Merlin would recognise the contents as being from my home and that would bring him back."

At 1am, 16 hours after first going missing, the pet arrived on the drive of Daniel's home.

He was taken to the vet the next day, where it was found Merlin didn't have a single mark on him. His blood samples were to come back clear several hours later.

Daniel said: "We still don't know what caused the seizure with Merlin, but following vet's advice we are keeping a very close eye on him and hope it's a one off episode. A New Year's Day to remember for sad and heart warming reasons!

"For the unprecedented amount of people locally on the scene or helping relay messages and the two search teams and drone operators who gave their day up to help - I'm forever in your debt.

"When the world can seem an upside down, negative place at times and social media fuels hate and nastiness, today certainly changed that... it kind of restores faith in humanity and social media can be a very positive tool."