An Edmonton-area family has finally been reunited with their dog. The pup got spooked months ago, and the family thought they might never see her again.
Chilli has been a huge part of Jody Toope’s family for the past three years, but the Calmar family recently went nearly three months without her.
“Chilli is wonderful, she steals everybody’s heart,” said Jody Toope, Chilli’s owner.
The six-year-old German Shepherd-cross got spooked when she was out with one of her owners in Brazeau County near Drayton Valley, southwest of Edmonton, in December and ran off into the woods.
“She didn’t come back, he stayed out there till 10 that night, looking for her, calling for her,” said Toope.
“We were doing all the things we thought were right, and we just couldn’t get her.”
Toope’s family and friends spent all their free time searching for Chilli. Each time people would spot the dog, they would send over photos and videos.
But they just couldn’t track her down, until this week, when they called in some help.
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The Scent Rescue Team is based in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland and help reunite people with their missing animals.
Stephanie and Nicole Tolea drove up to the Drayton Valley area, setting up trail cameras and leaving out food.
Less than 48 hours later, they found Chilli.
“We just slowly pulled up into where our trap was, and Nicole was like, ‘I can hear barking,’” said Stephanie Tolea, co-founder of the Scent Rescue Team.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s either in the trap or she’s barking somewhere off in the distance.’ As soon as we pulled up there she was in the trap.”
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Toope got the call early Thursday, around 5 a.m.
“She said, ‘Jody, we got her,’ and I said ‘Shut up!’ She said ‘No seriously, we have her.’”
When reunited with Chilli, Toope went up to the dog in the back of Tolea’s van, which was a very emotional moment.
“There were so many times I wanted to give up, there were so many times because I was just exhausted, and I was just tired, and I was just losing hope,” said Toope.
Chilli was found about two kilometres from where she originally ran off. Despite being out in the woods for three months in the dead of winter, she is healthy — albeit at half of her previous body weight.
Toope says Chilli is already acting like her old self and is grateful she’s by her side once again.
“I still can’t believe it, I’m just so happy.
“I don’t think she would’ve lasted much longer out there; I don’t think she had much more time, this needed to happen.”
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