Goldendoodle found lost and scared in Utah by hiker carefully coaxed into rescuer’s car with treats and delivered to Animal Control to find him a furever home, rescuer says: ‘He's so cute he'll find a home quick.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jun 17, 2026 12:15 PM EDT

How doggos like a Goldendoodle end up in the wilderness is beyond us, but we are grateful that even when things are looking bleak there are dog loving hoomans out there who will always be more than willing to lend a paw to help a pupper in need.

At least that seems to be the moral of this story found in Reddit's r/Utah subreddit. That even in the most hopeless of situations, one must never give up on the microscopic amounts of residual hope they are harboring. For when our time comes to be saved, when we are finally found, that microcosm of hope is what will give us faith that we are safe.

Sadly, this doggo did not have too much hope in his heart when he was found and took quite a while to be convinced that the hooman who had stopped and given him treats was acting with his best interests at heart. And that another night out in the freezing cold would be far tougher than taking the leap and putting his trust in this strange hooman. Thankfully it all came together in the end and this pupper is well on his way to finding a furever family who would never let him feel the pinch of the cold ever again.
 

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  • 01
    "I drove close he jumped up and ran away terrified. I saw it wasn't a wild dog, he looked like a smaller sheep dog or pet."
    via Kerensky97
  • 02
    I saw the Mirror Lake Highway had opened and Friday was my day off. So me and my dog were going to take a trip up in the mountains to take pictures. It was beautiful. 55 degrees. We saw one Moose, 5 Deer, a Bald Eagle dueling with an Osprey, and 2 Sandhill Cranes.
    via Kerensky97
  • 03
    My dog ran himself ragged exploring moleholes, and chasing birds he'll never catch. We started in Kamas and I wanted to say I drove through the whole winter closure section so I was going to turn around by the Ranger Station at the Evanston side. I
    via Kerensky97
  • 04
    knew my dog would want one last potty break before the 2hour drive home so I pulled off the side of the road at a dispersed camping site I knew had some nice views of the river
    via Kerensky97
  • 05
    As I was driving down the dirt road, I saw a d coyote curled up in the middle. Probably hit on the highway and wandered this far before succumbing to his w ds. But as I drove close he jumped up and ran away terrified. I saw it wasn't a wild dog, he looked like a smaller sheep dog or pet.
    via Kerensky97
  • 06
    I stopped to stretch my legs and assess if I could let my boy out or if this rad or mean dog would a k him. The dog watched me from a distance, and keep inching closer when I wasn't watching him. He circled around the far side of my car, but if I moved towards him he'd run away, putting the car in-
    via Kerensky97

  • Well, that is quite the turn of events to come up against when you would least expect it. Heck, in this perspective the coyote is more reasonable and somewhat easy to deal with. But a lost doggo in the deepest wilderness, well that is a whole kettle of fish. And by the looks of it the poor pupper is terrified, who knows what unfortunate series of events could have led him to find himself curled up sleeping on a dirt track. After all, there is no pawsitive reason for him to be sleeping there. Hopefully he warms up this hooman quickly and this saga will be soon behind him. 
     

  • 07
    between me and him. I figured he might be a loose dog from a nearby camp and didn't want to risk an untrained dog " g my little guy (he's already lost an eye to a dog fit as a puppy).
    via Kerensky97
  • 08
    When I got in the car to drive away I couldn't see the wild dog anymore, he wasn't in my mirrors or my backup cam. Instead of just driving off, I thought to check under the car, and behind the wheels just in case. Sure enough the dog was laying behind my rear passenger wheel.
    via Kerensky97
  • 09
    He seemed really scared, latched onto my vehicle because it was the only man- made thing in the area, but at the same. time he was scared for me to come near him. I had little milkbones with me and tossed 3 at him. He wouldn't come out from the car to get them but when I turned my back I
    via Kerensky97
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    heard him start eating one. While he was away from the car I was able to get turned around and head back to the road. I drove down the highway until I had service near Evanston and called my SO to ask advice on what options there were. We decided that even if
    via Kerensky97
  • 12
    he was just lost from a campsite the temps were supposed to be freezing overnight, he needs to be somewhere safe to be found rather than just leaving him with a pile of milkbones and "hope he didn't freeze overnight." I drove back, went down the dirt road, and didn't see him. I
    via Kerensky97

  • Well, yeah, you cannot just leave a sweet pupper soul like that who needs help. You have to step in and make a difference in his life. Even without the dropping temperatures the wild is no place for a house trained doggo to be contending with. Unlike the polite puppers he has gotten used to meeting in dog parks, wolves, foxes and bears will not treat their meeting with a similar curiosity and this pampered pooch will likely not be completely prepawed for what is coming for him. So for his sake he has to be removed from that place and given some sort of sanctuary around hoomans.
     

  • 13
    thought that was good, he's wandered back to his camp. But as I was turning around to leave he bolted out of a nearby bush and ran away in a panic. I followed him back to a clearing, got out of the car and waved at him so he could see I was the one who gave him milkbones, this time he was
    via Kerensky97
  • 14
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    via Kerensky97
  • 15
    much more eager to come up to me. Close enough I could let him smell my hand. He licked it and latched onto me instead of the car. I checked him over for a collar or any clue if he was a sheep dog, or if he'd been out for a while. He felt super
    via Kerensky97
  • 16
    boney and thin but well groomed and soft relatively clean fur. Not at all a wild dog or working dog, just a really hungry pet dog. I gave him a half cup of dogfood I had in my dogs "go-bag" while I thought about my options. My dog was scratching at the car
    via Kerensky97
  • 17
    window in jealousy and curiosity (he's very friendly to other dogs) So I carefully let him out so they could sniff each other. The other dog was very friendly as well, his tail was wagging now, they were circling each other sniffing bus. Kind of like the presence of my dog let him
    via Kerensky97
  • 18
    know I was a safe person for dogs. I didn't know if he was injured or was going to bite me if I tried to pick him up so I opened the door to my car so he could inspect it before I put him in. He actually seemed like he wanted to get in without needing encouragement. By
    via Kerensky97
  • 19
    now I was wondering how long he'd been out here, he wasn't roaming the woods, or trying to find a lost camp. He was staying in this area, scared as if this is where he was dropped off or lost and he'd spent a night or more in the wilderness. He was definitely a home dog that wants to be safe indoors more
    via Kerensky97
  • 20
    than out in the wild. I got him up in the back seat and put my boy in his passenger dog bed; both we're looking at each other but pretty calm with the arrangements. First I drove to the nearby dispersed RVers who had recently been sh Jg is. I asked either had a lost dog or had
    via Kerensky97
  • 21
    heard of a lost dog. Both said no. Then across the road to the campground to ask the camp host the same thing. They said that no dogs had been reported lost and hadn't seen any campground dogs that looked like him. The Ranger Station was closed, and that
    via Kerensky97
  • 22
    was all the humans within a 1-2 square mile radius I could find. If he had wandered away from a camp he had wandered a long way and might be beyond the range his family was looking for him. The drive home was uneventful (good thing, the rain was
    via Kerensky97
  • 23
    coming down hard last night, and the drive would have been a nightmare to wrestle fighting dogs). Instead my dog was snoring in his dog bed, the other dog laying in the back seat alternating between snoozes and anxious yawns. We got home, let him inside and he
    via Kerensky97
  • 24
    Cheezburger Image 10638813952
    via Kerensky97
  • 25
    was excited to explore the place. Slurping down water out of our dog bowl. Eating all the dog food left in the feeding dish before we left. We opened the door to the backyard and he didn't want to leave the house until me and my SO went out first. My dog (who was excited to have a friend over was
    via Kerensky97
  • 26
    running all over the place) came running outside, and finally he decided to come out to and goto the bathroom on the grass. We called our local vet to ask if they had a chip scanner and they said yes, we could come over and they'd check him for free (it was about 9pm now). But the scanner didn't pick
    via Kerensky97
  • 27
    anything up. The evening was just a mix of giving him some food, but not too much. Letting him play with some dog toys which he shredded in seconds. He's obviously a pet that's had some training, but also still a puppy. Tons of energy, constantly wants to play; he's
    via Kerensky97
  • 28
    kind of clingy but that makes sense if he had been scared and alone. All shelters were closed, it was late, nothing to do but put a word out on social media and see what we could do in the morning. We put him in a pet cage overnight since
    via Kerensky97
  • 29
    he was having bathroom issues. He seems to need to go every 30-60minutes. Maybe drinking dirty water, or stress, or bad food in the woods, or eating weird food at our house, or a combination of all those. But after he d once on our carpet we just kept taking turns letting him out during the
    via Kerensky97
  • 30
    night as he'd get anxious and tell us he needed to go out. In the morning we started making calls to shelters. Nobody would take him, not out of any malice, they just said he should be put in a shelter close to where he was found if his owners are looking for him, that
    via Kerensky97
  • 31
    would be their first call. Unfortunately during the weekend so many places are closed. But we did get a connection to somebody at the Summit County Animal Shelter who said that they will be in the office and we can drop him off. After a 1 hour drive back up the mountains, we got
    via Kerensky97
  • 32
    him to the staff of the shelter, who were very sympathetic to his situation, and really wanted to help him out. They'll hold him for 5 days to a. 5 him and wait for an owner to come get him. If nothing happens after 5 days he'll go up for adoption.
    via Kerensky97
  • 33
    I hope his owners find him, he seems loved and well raised. And if somebody did abandon him at that turn-off along the highway, they made a mistake by missing out on a really good pet dog. Either way, whether he gets home or finds a new one, I think he'll be setup for a much
    via Kerensky97
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    better life than the last few nights in the scary wilderness were for him.
    via Kerensky97
  • 36
    No luck finding the owner on social media. The dog is now with Summit County Animal Control. As per the Utah 24 hour rule (I've learned a lot about lost dogs in the last 12 hours) we turned him into Animal Control. We called tons of a shelters in SLC, Park City, and Heber. All said the same thing. They couldn't take him, he had to got to the
    via Kerensky97
  • 37
    shelter that services where he was found. This is part of the law, you have to report and turn in a dog you find to Animal Control, you can't re- home them yourself. This is to help the original owners have a chance in finding their lost dog, not everybody uses social media, so the nearest shelter is the point people we'll be looking.
    via Kerensky97
  • 38
    Summit County Animal Control was very sympathetic to him and want to help him out. He'll be under observation and waiting for his owners for the next 5 days. If the owner doesn't find him in those 5 days then he'll be available for adoption. But they said the same thing. He's so cute he'll find a home quick; so either way, he's on his way to a good life now.
    via Kerensky97

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found car golden animal control doodle reddit story scared hiker dog treats dog story furever home utah lost rescue
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