The story of a lost dog belonging to a Barriere man has had a happy ending.
Bill Hodson’s 14-year-old border collie, Shilo, went missing while hiking near Vavenby Mountain on June 26.
“I was with a couple I know,” said Hodson. “The dog went ahead but wasn’t at the vehicle when we got there.”
The Barriere man had only owned the dog for about a year. He was quite concerned when it went missing as it had a restricted life before he got it and since then has had a couple of seizures.
They searched for it until it got dark and then Hodson came back the next day with an ATV.
“I searched and searched for pretty well a week,” he said.
Finally, he gave up and took down a poster he had put up at Vavenby Store.
About a week after that he got some messages from Vavenby saying people had found his dog.
“It was my husband Earl who found him,” said Vavenby resident Fay Jones. “Our house is at the bottom of Lost Creek Road. Earl was out at the neighbours and the dog just followed him home.”
The dog looked old, skinny and hungry, she reported, but they recognized it from the photo on the poster that had been up at the store.
Hodson was contacted and, in the meantime, the dog was taken to Vavenby resident Barb Pennell’s to be fed and taken care of.
The Barriere man said he was surprised to get the call about his dog, as he had given it up for dead.
There were wolf tracks and bear sign all over the area where the dog had gone missing.
In addition, several cougars are believed to be near Vavenby.
Hodson, who formerly worked in the Northwest Territories developing community satellite networks, retired to the Barriere area because he likes to go hiking.
“From now on, though, the dog stays home,” he said.