A service dog lost in training survived for nearly two months in cold weather and with a broken leg — before hikers found it near a Colorado mountain trail and helped reunite it with its disabled owner, according to reports.
Nova Riley — a 14-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog who had been trained to help owner Robynne Simons-Sealy get around — was missing for seven weeks after she was startled in a parking lot and slipped from her leash, her owner Robynne Simons-Sealy told the Boulder Daily Camera.
“He survived two blizzards and sub-freezing weather,” Simons-Sealy told the outlet. “I cry every time it snows.”
On Nov. 19, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, two hikers found a terrified dog with a broken leg near a trail at Meyer Ranch Park, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced.
Nova bit one of the two hikers as they “attempted to carry the injured pet down the mountain,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
So one of the hikers stayed with the dog while the other went to meet the rescuers to show them where the dog was.
14-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog Nova Riley was found by hikers on a mountain trail in Colorado two months after she went missing. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office/Instagram
The pedestrian who was bitten was not seriously injured and did not require stitches, the Daily Camera reported, citing Animal Control Officer Kylie Rupe.
Rupe and three rangers had to hike three miles up a mountain trail to find Nova — who, in addition to a broken leg, was underweight.
Animal control officers gained Nova’s trust by offering canine treats.
“When we first got there, I had food and treats with me, knowing he might be very food-motivated at that point,” Rupe told the outlet. “I use food to make friends, and he’s very friendly but shy.”
The dog was skeptical at first but once he smelled the food “it was all happy barks and wagging backs,” Rupe said.
“Fortunately, a ranger remembered a missing dog poster posted in the park over a month ago” and they were able to arrange a meeting with Simons-Sealy, the sheriff’s office said.
Owner Robynne Simons-Sealy posted about being reunited with Nova seven weeks after she went missing.
Despite the ordeal the puppy went through, she was overjoyed when she was reunited with Simons-Sealy, her owner said.
“When I walk up to the car, it’s like I’m just another human being, and then he wakes up and he goes crazy,” Simons-Sealy said. “It was so beautiful and so touching and the most beautiful sound when he realized, ‘I’m safe, I’m okay.'”
The furry friend lost 20 pounds — or a quarter of his body weight — and had to have his broken leg amputated, Simons-Sealy said.
Nova “fell off a rock ledge, a little ledge, and broke her right leg,” Simons-Sealy explained in a Facebook post.
Nova can no longer be a Simons-Sealy service dog but she will still have a forever home with an owner who has accepted community contributions for the dog’s medical bills, she explained.
“I can’t say enough about the kindness of the people here,” Simons-Sealy said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
