Thankful Thursday - Reuniting Lost Dogs with their Humans

Last weekend, Shyla and I headed out for a mountain bike ride together. We started with some photos in the meadow by our house... just because I cannot pry myself away from the brilliant wildflower colors that I know won't last forever. It's been such a hard summer, coping with my father's illness, that I find huge solace in nature's beautiful colors. This was one of the photos that I took that morning.

Then, Shyla and I headed up a big hill toward more meadows. As I pedaled along, I heard a dog barking from nearby. When Shyla is with me, I try very hard to avoid unknown dogs. They scare her badly. So, I pedaled away from the barking as fast as I could with Shyla in tow.


We played in another wildflower oasis, and then we turned around, heading back toward home.

As we headed toward home, I started to think that we'd somehow totally avoided the dogs... but I was wrong. As we passed exactly the same spot as where I'd heard the barking earlier, I heard woofing coming from the forest. That struck me as really odd - why hadn't the barking dog moved? If he was hiking with humans, they certainly would have moved by then.

So, I got off my bike to look around while Shyla hid in the woods away from the barking. I peered through aspen trees and underbrush, and I eventually spotted the source of the barking. There were two big white fluffy dogs, one of whom was barking. The other was trying to hide from me. There were no humans in sight.

I started photographing with the hope that someone would recognize the dogs in my photos.

The non-barking dog disappeared almost immediately. However, the barking one looked at me with bright eyes.

I started to traipse through the thick vegetation toward the dog. He didn't run so I got pretty close.

However, I saw three things all at once as I got close. No collar. Fear of me. And a little bit of aggression. I decided to leave them alone and try to find their humans - I'd only make the situation worse if I scared them into fleeing. I pedaled home, keeping Shyla extra close.

When I arrived home, I started perusing our neighborhood email group and local social media sources. Reports of a pair of lost Great Pyrenees leaped off the pages at me. I called the owners' phone number, and the ball was rolling toward reuniting the dogs with their humans.

The problem was that the humans didn't know our forest or trails at all, and I couldn't visualize how they would find the spot where I'd seen the dogs. So, I rode back to the spot with the plan of meeting the owners near there. One dog was still apparent in exactly the same spot but I couldn't see the second one.

I rode onward to find their humans who had hiked toward the spot from another direction. Soon, I'd found them and led them back to the dogs. To make a long story short, the owners went into the brush to get the visible dog, and both dogs were there! The second one was hunkered down on the forest floor. It was very hot, and they were probably sticking to a cool spot.

It felt so wonderful to see these dogs back with their humans. And, that is what I am thankful for. It felt so good to be able to actually make a difference in the lives of dogs and their humans.

Thanks to Brian for hosting the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop.