A hiker from Oregon paused on a quiet trail when something caught his attention. Off the path, tucked between bushes, was a still figure watching him. Most people would pass it by, but he didn’t.
He slowed his steps, trying to figure out the animal’s identity. The shape was small and silent and it wasn’t moving. It seemed to plead with its wide eyes, like it had nowhere else to go.
He approached carefully, wanting to scare it less. His boots shifted on stones and the air felt thin. He could tell the creature was afraid.
What he discovered when he stepped closer changed everything. The lost animal staring at him that day needed help, and he was its only hope.
A Pup In Desperate Need Of Help
It was an ordinary hike for Jason Hawkins, who was just enjoying his day, when he suddenly saw people who asked him something strange.
Was he missing a dog? He told them no, but this sparked his curiosity, so he went on with his hike in hopes of finding this lost pup.
Then he saw it. After a close examination, he realized that it was a scared dog who was just looking for help, and this man was the only person nearby.
Hawkins told The Dodo: “That’s when I saw, just off in the distance, a little figure. It kind of clicked that that might be the dog they were asking about.”
He wanted to help this dog, but anytime he got close, the pup just ran away. He didn’t know how to get his attention.
Hawkins continued by saying: “He ran off deeper into the woods for a while when I was trying to follow him, and that kind of just freaked me out a little bit. The deeper he got, the more worried I became.”
Eventually, he saw that the pup was lying on the ground, so he slowly approached him and saw that he had a collar on him.
Now, he was sure that this was someone’s lost pet. There was just one more problem: Hawkins didn’t know how to get the dog back to the trailhead.
A Beautiful Reunion
He didn’t have any food for him, so he couldn’t lure the dog back, and the dog seemed too reluctant to follow him anywhere.
So, he came up with a brilliant idea. He clipped his camera’s tripod and attached it to create a makeshift leash.
It kind of worked, and the dog was already used to being on a leash, so he didn’t mind that this man was leading him back to safety.
Hawkins said: “As soon as I stood up and he could kind of feel the pull on his collar, he was like … ‘I know what’s happening, we’re good now.”
Once he got back to the trailhead, he called the number on the collar, but there was no service. Nevertheless, he was able to text the owner who arrived at the scene shortly after.
The woman who was now finally reunited with her dog could barely muster the words as she was fighting back tears the whole time.
She thought that she had lost her beloved pup forever, but there he was. He was finally safe.
The woman told the man that the dog somehow escaped from her car and she had been searching for him in the Oregon woods the entire day, but with no success.
Hawkins ends by saying: “Being able to ease the mind and see the joy that was on her face afterwards felt really good.”