Washington family celebrate the triumphant return of their australian shepherd who was lost in New Mexico for 6 months, surviving the winter and several trapping attempts: ‘I'd just about lost hope of ever seeing Brancy again, and now he's coming home!’

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jan 1, 2026 2:00 PM EST

Bringing a dog into your life is quite the undertaking there is no denying that. Whether you think of the training, attention, financial investment and above all else the responsibility that you take upon yourself, there is a lot going on. And you hope, that for the most part you will not have to face too many of these potential hurdles in your pupper's lifespan, but you go into the relationship knowing that like with anything in life, you never quite know how things will shake out in the end.

And much to the disappointment of one washington family, they felt the strain of their responsibility over their doggo when it went missing in a whole other state for six long months. A period that must have felt like a lifetime for them. Every day and night waiting, worrying and wondering what could have happened to their pawdorable pupper, where he might be and how he might be doing. So you can probably imagine their elation the moment that they discovered their fur baby was alive and well and had finally been caught after several failed attempts. Bringing their harrowing half a year ordeal to a comforting close. 

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    "I'd just about lost hope of ever seeing Brancy again, and now he's coming home!"
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    I just really wanted to share this story because today has been an insane emotional rollercoaster, but I'm just so happy and relieved!
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    We got Brancy from a breeder who was looking for homes for two mini Australian Shepherds. They were a bit older than puppies, as the
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    breeder we got him from had in turn gotten them from their original breeder, who'd had a family emergency right after the little was born and didn't
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    have time to socialize them properly. As far as we know, Brancy was never abused, but he was pretty skittish around people and took a long time to
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  • A gentle reminder that there is no pawfect way to get a pupper. Even when you go to a breeder you never quite know what you are going to get and under what circumstances a dog has been raised. Of course Brancy’s conditions were not all that bad, but if even one of these breeders had been less than decent to this poor pupper who knows what kind of behavioral issues he could have picked up along the way.

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    warm up to strangers. As we worked with him, he got a lot better! The first night I was home from school (he was
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    my dog, but due to timing my parents brought him home a month or two before I'd be home) we had to spend hours coaxing him back inside because he
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    was so scared. By the time we went on vacation last summer, after I'd had him for over a year, he was jumping and dancing when I came home from work and would
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    sleep in my bed. We made so much progress together and he was my sweetheart. However, tragedy struck last summer
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  • This is what we like to see, the hard work that caring hoomans put in to their puppers to make them feel as welcome and wanted as possible. After all the decades and generations that doggos have been used for their working abilities they are more than deserving of a few generations of love and tender care. Especially when they have had a bit of a tough childhood. Though, as we all know, even when things are at their best, the worst can still happen…

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    Cheezburger Image 10592073728
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    while on vacation in New Mexico. My family and I wanted to take a day trip on a train, and thought it wouldn't be comfortable for poor Brancy to be stuck in
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    his crate for the approximately 5+ hours we'd be gone. Luckily, a friend we were camping with was also staying behind with her dogs, and offer to
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    watch him so he wouldn't be cooped up. We took the offer, went on the trip, came back... And he was gone. Turned out she'd left
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    the dogs tied up outside for awhile, and came back to find Brancy's leash chewed through (we never figured out if it was him or one of her dogs) and he
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    was gone. We stayed for almost an extra week looking, but even the one or two times we did spot him, we couldn't get close; like I said, he's skittish and being an
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    Aussie, he runs like a speeding bullet, you'd need to be on horseback to keep up with him. Eventually, we had to move on, and I was heartbroken. We
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    put up posters everywhere, posted on the local garage sale Facebook group, and kept in contact with the local Humane Society, who were
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    very supportive and helpful throughout the whole ordeal. My parents even flew back out a few months later to try again, but no luck; he was just too fast,
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    and too scared. We kept getting the occasional call or message saying someone had seen him, but considering how fast and scared
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    he was, without dog in hand it wasn't worth spending all the money to fly out there just to chase him around for a few days and fly back. I was devastated, but
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    had to accept that life moves on. I got a new puppy (Bucky, a maltipoo) and while I loved/love him dearly, I still missed Brancy with all my heart.
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    Until this morning. I got a call from New Mexico, and, expecting another bittersweet "We've seen him, he's alive" message that would've at least
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    told me he'd continued to beat the odds and survive the harsh winter, I picked up. Imagine my shock and joy when I heard the woman on the other
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    end say that she had Brancy in a trap in her barn, and that the Humane Society was coming to pick him up later today! I've been teary and
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    crying all day from happiness! My baby boy's okay! We've been communicating with the humane society, and according to them (and the
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    Cheezburger Image 10592073472
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    pictures they've sent!) he's mostly okay, just got some burrs and gunk in his fur and a bit shaken up. He's much less traumatized than I'd ever hoped for, he
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    allows himself to be handled, still likes to be pet, and is even following the woman fostering him around a little! (She sent us a picture of him peeking at her from
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    around a corner, which is exactly the kind of thing he used to do at home!) I know it'll be a long road to recovery, but honestly as long as he's with me again
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    I'm just so happy! My father and I are flying out there this Thursday to get him and bring him home, and I couldn't be happier! I'd just about lost hope of
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    ever seeing Brancy again, and now he's coming home!
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months celebrate hope lost dog trap new mexico reddit story washington australian shepherd survive family dog story winter return lost
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