Alice Cotton tells story of missing family dog’s return in latest single

A Top End singer said her childhood pet ‘should have been a therapy dog’. Here’s how the gentle canine inspired a song.

A Top End country singer said it was a “shock” to hear her childhood dog had returned home after 13 months missing.

Alice Cotton said Crumpet “should have been a therapy dog” because she was gentle, calm and “kid-friendly”.

“We had her, and one wet season while we were on family holidays, she went missing,” she said.

“We kind of put posters up and went looking for her, and while she was gone, we just assumed she’d run away to die because she was so old already – she would have been 13 when she went missing.

“(We) sort of went through the stages of grief, and then one day, my sister was just walking home in Nightcliff and happened to come across her in the street.”

Ms Cotton said it was as though her “little baby girl” had come back to her.

“How weird to have this link to your childhood that you think is gone and then just suddenly reappears,” she said.

Alice Cotton will release her new single Coming Home about her dog that went missing in Nightcliff. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

The surreal story inspired Ms Cotton’s latest single Coming Home.

Music-loving Territorians can watch Ms Cotton perform the single live at the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association.

“That will be with True Colours Chorus before they go to World Pride,” she said.

“It’s a kid-friendly show, I wanted to do something that kids can come to.”

Ms Cotton said while Territorians could not bring their furry friends to the night’s performance, she invited listeners to bring photos of their dogs to hang during the show.