Dog walker loses samoyed pup in forest, causing 1,000 people, a plane and helicopter to set off on a 7 day search & rescue mission, until the canine returned surprisingly: ‘ Matted, full of sticks etc. However had a full belly and was perfectly healthy.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jan 13, 2026 3:00 PM EST

When you drop your dog off to be walked for the day with the local trusted dog walker you hardly expect that the next week of your life is going to turn into a dire hard movie. But for this couple that is exactly what happened. For their Samoyed pupper decided that a jovial walk in the woods with his pupper pals was simply not enough, and that by sending him with these other dogs, his pawrents actually did not love him properly. And much like the end of one of the many Home Alone movies, the doggo's family sprung into action moving heaven and earth to bring their canine child home.

And that is where things got interesting for it was not through the immense efforts of the rescue services or 1000 volunteers that the doggo came home. But it was through a chance sighting by the pupper's father while driving and through his subsequent surprise the running over of the father's sister's foot that caused the canine to be so startled that he ran into the arms of his father. Is there a moral to the story? No. Is it a legendary story worth its wild and wack adventure? Yes.

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  • 01
    "She was lazing under a giant willow tree without a care in the world." ENGINEERING Aukan Mase Spec
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  • 02
    A dog walker lost her on a pack walk in a forest about 30km from our home. My husband and I camped in this forest for a week
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  • 03
    next to a bunch of bee hives and walked every day around the tracks to find her, most days walking 40+km. I was 6months pregnant and we
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  • 04
    had a toddler at home with his granny. There were at least 1000 people who came out to help us, and a small plane + airforce helicopter
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  • 05
    Cheezburger Image 10593733376
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  • 06
    helped too. The bush was too thick for them to see much at all. We had all the local dog trainers involved. We got clearance to bring a
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  • Ok, this has to be the most invested dog search and rescue we have ever come across. To be fair it would have already been the most invested mission we have heard about if it were only the camping. But then they had to get a 1000 people involved, as well as air support and local dog trainers? Not to disparage the need to bring the dog home but dang, who’s dog was this? Barack Obama’s? Such efforts are barely made for amber alerts…

  • 07
    vehicle in on day 4 (there are 'roads' but they are closed to public) and that made covering ground so much easier. She went wild, and
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    ENGINEERING ST
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  • 09
    wouldn't come near us even when my husband got within 10m on day 1 - she looked at him and ran the other way. We would hear her howls in the night which gave us hope
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  • 10
    and we knew we were still in the right area. This continued until day 7 we hadn't had a sighting of her in 48hours nor heard her howls. We were worried that this
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  • 11
    meant she'd possibly been attacked by a wild animal or something. On the evening in day 7 she was spotted in a nearby farm, and when i got
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  • 12
    Cheezburger Image 10593733888
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  • 13
    there she was lazing under a giant willow tree without a care in the world. It took 4 hours of full on chase (the lye down and let her come to you didn't work) that ended with my
    via otfromtheoc
  • 14
    husband running over his sisters foot (she saw charley when they were driving and just jumped out of the car) and charley getting such a fright from the yell that
    via otfromtheoc

  • Wow, this really should be the basis for a movie. All you need to do is make it happen around the holidays either starting or ending on Christmas day and you have a box office hit. You’ve got the drama of the run away, the intensity of the masses of resources being put up to help find the dog and then a slap stick ending that makes everyone drop their serious faces and laugh it all off. Pretty wonderful stuff if you ask us.

  • 15
    Cheezburger Image 10593734144
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  • 16
    she ran over and jumped in the open car door and started whimpering. Every piece of advice from the experts said move slowly, don't call or make
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  • 17
    noises, lay down flat etc. None of this worked AT ALL for us. Literally the scream and shout gave her enough of a fright to some how snap back into reality.
    via otfromtheoc
  • 18
    She was matted, full of sticks etc. However had a full belly and was perfectly healthy. We had to shave her for the vet to examine her totally for ticks and abrasions - plus she was traumatized
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    Cheezburger Image 10593734656
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    and brushing it all out was upsetting her terribly.
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  • 21
    Mar... What an amazing story. Glad you're all together again.
    via otfromtheoc

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Forest surprising people samoyed dog walker cause plane reddit story lose canine helicopter 1000 dog story return pup mission Search and Rescue
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