Two years ago, a pregnant German Shepherd was found wandering alone in Washington state’s woods. Jim Branson, founder of Useless Bay Sanctuary, a non-profit dog rescue, took her in. And the very next day, she gave birth to a tiny puppy named Tino. Life is truly a miracle, and little did Tino know that he would later come full circle, returning to those very same woods to rescue another lost dog.
Growing up, Tino started attending search and rescue training sessions with other dogs. It soon became clear that he had a remarkable talent for it. Branson adopted Tino, and after 16 months of training, he officially joined Three Retrievers Lost Pet Rescue.
One day, when Branson received a call about an 11-year-old deaf Great Pyrenees named Puppy who had gone missing, he knew Tino was the perfect dog for the job.
Puppy’s owner had gone for a horseback ride in the woods, and Puppy decided to join. However, they got separated on the way back. Volunteers searched for Puppy but couldn’t find him. Alone in the woods, the deaf dog couldn’t hear their calls.
On a Saturday morning, Tino, Branson, and Puppy’s owner retraced their steps. After Tino was given a scent article (some of Puppy’s fur from his bed), he took off running on the scent trail.
“It took 90 minutes for the owner to locate the point she had last seen Puppy because things look different in twilight,” Branson said. “Once I presented the scent article to Tino, he took off running on the scent trail.
After 45 minutes of searching, Tino led them to a mud pit. Tino barked continuously, drawing attention to something unusual.
At first, they couldn’t quite make sense of what they saw in the mud. Then they heard whining. Tino realized it was a dog and barked at the muddy figure. Branson and others had to carefully extract Puppy from the mud, fearing they might hurt his legs.
“When we first saw Puppy, it was hard to make sense of what we were seeing because two-thirds of him were submerged in mud,” Branson said. “Tino barked at this strange swamp monster for a bit until he realized it was a dog.”
Branson laid branches over the mud so they could approach Puppy, and it became clear that all 150 pounds of dog would be difficult to extricate from the sticky pond.
“I put Tino’s leash under Puppy and tried to haul him out,” Branson explained. “He was stuck so firmly that I didn’t want to pull harder for fear of hurting his legs. The owner’s husband brought more ropes and straps, and the three of us eased Puppy out a little at a time.”
After being stuck in the mud for over a day, Puppy had trouble standing. And he was transported home in an ATV trailer.
Although much dirtier than before, Puppy’s owners were overjoyed to have him back and were grateful for Tino’s remarkable sense of smell.
Just as Tino was saved as a young puppy, he’s always eager to return the favor. Nothing excites Tino more than helping lost pets find their way home. And so did his dad; he couldn’t be prouder.
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