Finding Captain

Cheers

I love your story and so happy you found Captain. Man, if only they could talk, right?! What a tale he would have to tell. So glad for the happy ending!

May 25, 2016

Oh, how sweet and heartwarming!! Beautiful storytelling too!!

May 24, 2016

Finding Captain

This is my parents' dog and he ran away a couple months ago. This layout is based on that story. The map is a picture of where our cabin is and where Captain was found.

Hidden journaling in the envelope reads: "Captain was only a year old and my parents had only had him for 10 months. They were at the family cabin which is located in a recreational subdivision off the Parks Hwy. between Willow and Talkeetna, an hour and a half North of Eagle River aka home. Captain had been up there plenty of times and had even ran off once or twice before, but my parents always found him shortly after and he was usually playing with a puppy friend a few lots over. This time it was different. He ran off mid afternoon on Tuesday March 8, 2016. Captain didn't find his puppy friend so he apparently just kept going... South... behind our cabin... and eventually across the Big-Su river which was still mostly frozen. After searching all afternoon and evening my parents had to stop at dark. I came up to help look on Wednesday, but that day too came and went. Between my parents, my brother and myself, at least one of us was always up at the cabin. We were out looking and calling his name around the subdivision and across the highway and up/down the highway. We thought he would stay near people. We followed what tracks we could find not knowing if they were his or from another dog from the area. There were probably 30-40 homes and cabins within 1/2 mile in the area, except for behind the cabin.... that was wilderness. We talked to everyone we could to see if they'd seen Captain. We put up flyers around the area and even 20-30 miles South in Willow and North in Talkeetna; at post offices, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that got as much traffic as possible. We had the local radio station make an announcement. We posted notices on the Facebook Mat-Su pets page as well as a few others and alerted nearby vet offices. My parents and brother went out on snowmachines to follow tracks they found that led down to the creek behind the cabin. Beyond the creek the land opens up and goes for miles and miles! My Dad even hired a pilot to fly him around the area for an hour but he didn't see any sign of Captain. Thursday came and went, Friday came and went. We kept waiting for a phone call with good news, and every time the cell phone rang our hearts skipped a beat, but still no news, no one had seen him. It was so disheartening every night when it was pitch black outside and we had no idea if he was alive, safe, or if he found a place to rest, and he had to have been cold and so hungry. All the worrying made it hard for us to sleep. We knew bears were still hibernating so that was a relief, but there were always moose and most likely wolves. We prayed and prayed... and prayed. Then Saturday came.... and went. On the morning of Sunday, March 13th, we were getting ready to have breakfast and waiting on my brother to drive up and help us continue the search, we were not giving up hope, when my Dad's cell phone rang again. SOMEONE HAD FOUND CAPTAIN!!! He was located at Trapper Lake which was across the 2 run off creeks behind our cabin and across the Big-Su river and through more woods! In a direct line it was about 5 miles from our cabin, but Captain probably travelled more like 8-10 miles before he got there. There was only one person that lived on the lake year round and she saw him first, she tried to call him over but he didn't listen. She alerted another neighbor that was there visiting for the weekend and he was able to get Captain to come to him by bribing him with hot dogs. So they got him securely into a house while we figured out how to get to him. The first plan was for my Dad to hire a pilot to fly him out there to get Captain but we weren't sure how Captain would act inside a small 2 seater airplane. What ended up happening was we drove to Susitna Landing, a few miles South of our cabin. It's a recreational area that's along the river. The man that found Captain on the lake had a small enclosed snowmachine trailer to put him in and then drove his way on his snowmachine down the trail to Susitna Landing, which was about a 1.5 hour long trip. We met them at noon and for us it was like Christmas Day waiting for Santa to pull up in his sleigh as we awaited the arrival of the snowmachine pulling a trailer. When we saw Captain there were tears of joy and words could not express how THRILLED and RELIEVED we were to see him alive and in one piece!! He was skinny and had a cut on his forehead that had healed but left a scar. His feet were raw in some spots as well (we later took him to the vet for a check up and he seemed fine). Overall though, by the Grace of God he was in good shape! It took him a few days to get back to feeling like himself, after all I'm sure he had quite the adventure and who knows what all he encountered. But we are beyond thankful that this was a happy ending for us and have taken extra precautions now to make sure it doesn't happen again! We are GRATEFUL for all the help from strangers and all the thoughts and prayers from people both known and unknown that helped us through this endeavor!"