When a dog runs away, there is always a worried family waiting at home. Sometimes the dog comes home on its own, but sometimes you have to go out to search for your faithful four-legged friend.
When the 12-year-old Labrador Sage escaped from her home, her family was desperate. Sage was not only old, she was also blind. With a forest nearby, they wondered how she would survive on her own.
The family began searching around their home in Boulder Creek, California (USA), but there was no sign of her.
“Ten of our neighbors joined our family in the search that lasted late into the night,” Beth Cole, Sage’s owner, told The Dodo. “Then they came back for a few days to help.”
After five days, the family began to lose hope.
Despite feeling hopeless, the family continued to search for their dog. Five days turned into six, then seven, then eight.
They were afraid that Sage had been injured or killed by a predator.
But then a man happened to see something in the forest. The family’s neighbor and firefighter, Dan Estrada, was walking his dogs with a friend when they saw something next to the creek at the bottom of a steep slope.
“At first I thought it was a trash bag, so I was actually frustrated,” Dan told The Dodo. “No one wants people dumping trash in the forest. Then I looked closer and I saw that it was Sage.”
Sage was not moving, and Dan feared the worst. As they approached closer, she lifted her head, and Dan’s friend noticed and shouted back, “Dude, she’s alive.”
Upon hearing this, Dan ran to the creek to rescue her.
“I climbed much faster, jumped into the stream, and ran to her,” Dan said. “I wrapped my arms around her, kissed her, and started petting her. And she was able to lift her head and wag her tail.”
Sage also saw Dan’s two dogs, Barnabas and Köelsch, whom she was familiar with, and that helped cheer her up.
“I think she was more excited to see Barnabas and Köelsch than to see me,” Dan said.
She tried to stand and walk, but after eight days without food, she didn’t have much energy left, so Dan carried her home.
On the way back, they also contacted Sage’s family, who were naturally overjoyed to hear the news.
There were many tears of joy at the reunion.
The family had offered a reward of $1,000 to anyone who found their beloved dog, but Dan refused to accept it. Instead, he asked for the money to be donated to an animal welfare organization.
Watch this happy reunion and the amazing Sage who never gave up in the video below.
Animals can teach us so much, and in this case, Sage taught everyone that despite all odds, she was determined to survive.
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