Blind dog finds way home in freezing conditions
A blind dog that was lost and alone in Alaska as winter temperatures dipped far below freezing has been found and returned home.
After walking 16km, eight-year-old Abby was found and returned to her owners.
“It’s a miracle,” McKenzie Grapengeter told The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
The dog disappeared on December 13 and turned up at the home of veterinarian Mark May on December 20.
To May’s surprise, the dog had no signs of frostbite.
“She’s no worse for wear but quite an adventure,” May said.
The Grapengeter family hadn’t tagged or put a microchip in the dog, but the community used social media to track down Abby’s owners.
“They’ve given us the most amazing Christmas gift we could ever ask for,” Grapengeter said.
Musher and veterinarian May said he came across the dog while running his team on December 19, but didn’t stop to pick her up.
“It ran with us for about a mile on the way home before she fell off the pace, but I had a big dog team so I couldn’t grab it,” he said.
“I said, ’boy I hope it finds somebody’s house.”’
The next day, the dog turned up at May’s house.
“Everybody just assumed it was some kind of scaredy-cat, but there it was in front of the door in our dog lot and it was blind,” May said.
“It was sitting there, all the way from 14 mile on the winter trail down into this neighbourhood, I guess by just sniffing, so I picked it up and brought it in.”
