Blind Labrador That Went Missing For Eight Days Found By Neighbor Who Thought She Was A Garbage Bag By The River

Nov 06, 2020 by apost team

In times like these, we could all use a good "warm and fuzzy" story to enhance our moods. This tale will do just that for all you animal lovers out there!

Our story begins with 12-year-old Sage, a Labrador retriever mix who lives with her family in Boulder Creek, California. After playing in the backyard with her family, she went missing in 2017. This could have been a simple story of search and recovery if Sage were a simple dog. However, Sage is blind in both eyes. Though her other senses are heightened as an adaptation to being blind, she still depends greatly on her family's care.

An hour after returning inside, someone in the family realized that Sage was not with them. Each member of the family assumed another had brought her inside, as The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports. No one had.

Immediately, the family set to work trying to find Sage. Because only an hour had passed, they were hopeful she was nearby. They asked for the assistance of their neighbors, hoping one might have seen her.

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No one had, so they formed a search party. The search lasted well into the night of that first day and continued the next day with no luck. The family was growing worried. After all, Sage was 12 years old and her health, aside from the blindness, was not in optimal condition.

Of course, her blindness meant she was prone to safety issues like falling down hills or running into obstacles. After seven days and no Sage in sight, the trail was running cold. The family began handing out flyers and hanging signs in their neighborhood. They also took to social media posting pictures of Sage in hopes of reaching as many people as possible. They were hopeful someone, somewhere knew where Sage was.

Interestingly, Labradors are well-known to be disability assistance companion dogs. A Labrador is a common "seeing-eye dog" for those who are blind. Other assistances they can provide include assisting with autism, therapy dogs, and assisting law enforcement with retrievals.

The Labrador is playful, obedient, and incredibly loyal. They are also great hunting and sporting dogs. Sage was no different, which is why her family was so intent on finding her. They even offered a $1,000 reward for anyone who found her and safely returned her to them, as you'll learn in the video below. As the days passed, they were losing hope of seeing their precious Sage again.

It was about eight days after Sage went missing that one of the family's neighbors went on a hike in the nearby woods. Dan Estrada had taken his own dogs, Koelsh and Barnabas, out for a walk on what seemed like an ordinary day. He was about to find out how extraordinary that day would be. As he was playing around with his two dogs, Dan spotted a huddled mass at the bottom of a steep hill next to a stream. It appeared to be a large bag of garbage. Still, Dan decided to climb down and inspect it.

As Dan approached the mass, it was lying very still. Once he was closer to it, he could tell that it was not a mass of garbage at all, but Sage! She had been found after eight days alone in the wilderness.

Sage sensed Dan's presence and the presence of her canine pals, Koelsh and Barnabas. It seemed to get her spirits up as she began to slowly wag her tail and her ears perked up, as Dan explains in the video below. She raised her head off the ground and Dan hugged and petted her. Ugh, can you just imagine how relieved she must have felt?

At this point, Dan knew he had to lead Sage out of the woods. However, she was extremely weak after over a week without any food and little water. She could barely move and when she did, her movements were extremely slow.

Dan decided he would do what he had to do. He lifted Sage onto his shoulders and carried her out of the woods and back home. Wow, go Dan! When you consider the average-sized Labrador weighs up to 80 pounds, you can see that this was a feat in itself!

We must note that we do not know exactly how far out in the woods Dan and his dogs hiked, as they don't mention it. However, we assume it was pretty far from home, or else someone would have found Sage much sooner. That said, how often do you have to carry an extra 80 pounds on your afternoon hike? Most likely never!

Obviously, the family was incredibly grateful that Dan had found Sage. They willingly offered him the $1,000 reward, but Dan refused it and suggested they donate it to some sort of animal rescue organization. Their town was small and close-knit and the neighbors were happy to look out for and help one another when they could. No reward was necessary.

Wow, what do you think? Do you live in a town with helpful and friendly neighbors like this? Be sure to share Sage's story with your animal-loving friends and family. It's certain to lift anyone's spirits.