Blind Labrador Lost For A Week In The Mountains Waits For One Last Sign Of Hope

There is little hope for a blind dog lost in the Santa Cruz mountains, even less for one missing for a week.

For a Boulder Creek Labrador named Sage, however, eight days proved to be enough time to spend away from home in the vast California wilderness.

“It was horrible,” Sage’s owner Beth Cole told ABC7 News. “We were so heartbroken and just feeling so bad that she was out there.”

After losing track of Sage on Feb. 24, Cole spent the following few days searching the woods adjacent her neighborhood, despite reports of mountain lions in the area. Cole, along with friends and neighbors, eventually began to lose hope.

“We had so many people helping with the search. We had signs up, we had it posted everywhere,” Cole said.

That’s when they received good news.

According to KSBW, one of Cole’s neighbors, Dan Estrada, came across a white labrador while hiking along a stream in the mountains with a friend. Sage surprised them both by popping her head up in curiosity.

Estrada recognized Sage immediately, and ran to help her out. He picked her up onto his shoulders for the rest of the hike out of the canyon.

Posted by Missing Pet Partnership on Sunday, March 5, 2017

“I jumped in the stream, I was super happy,” Estrada told ABC7. “I put my arms around her and hugged her and threw her over my shoulders and carried her up the mountain.”

Sage was carried home to a happy and grateful family, while the lesson of her experience was not lost on her rescuer.

“It’s been harsh conditions and that dog had such a strong will to live,” Estrada said. “And I think everybody has a lesson to be learned from that: Don’t give up.”

KSBW reports that Sage’s welcome home party will be held on from 4-6 p.m. March 18 at Joe’s Bar on Highway 9, in hopes of also raising money for the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.

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183 thoughts on “Blind Labrador Lost For A Week In The Mountains Waits For One Last Sign Of Hope

  1. no, the owners didn’t “dump” her. She is blind and wondered off. They had search parties, posted flyers, she was on the news here asking for help, etc. and when she was found they had a welcome home party. So no, SHE wasn’t dumped. Read the article before commenting.

  2. I have read the article, as I stated it’s a old post and on that post it stated she,d been dumped…so they had better sort out all the different write ups on this story !!!

  3. Aw bless him, he must have been so scared. I had a blind lab and she never went anywhere without her pillow pets, they helped her stop bumping into things, sadly we lost her almost a year ago to stomach cancer. She was beautiful

  4. My rescue boy Loki lost his sight in his last eight months of his nine years with our family, but was amazing with how he could navigate the house and yard. Only slowed a bit when on walks (which he still loved), as he couldn’t really keep his bearings, so he’d judge where he was by walking on a close heel.

  5. In the good old UK it stated she had been dumped so don’t have a go at me. I’m saying what I read….so perhaps you need to get of your high horse, as you don’t know what was published over here!!!

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