Rescue from the Desert

Michelle, who lives in St. George, UT, told me this story at a campground in Gunnison, CO.

A couple out for a hike in the desert near St. George got separated from their Labrador-mix dogs when a thunderstorm came up. The dogs probably couldn't hear their people calling because of the rain.

The owners returned to the desert several times to search for the dogs, but without success.

Michelle and her husband were on an outing to the desert when they saw two dogs out running. Michelle wanted to pick them up, but her husband thought the dogs' owner might be nearby, hiking.

When Michelle returned to town and became aware that someone had lost dogs on the desert, she returned to where she'd spotted them. She couldn't find them, and was about to return to her car when a voice in her head said, "Make noise."

"I have no idea what that voice was," she said.

She made a yelping noise, which bounced off the canyon walls and carried a long ways. Two emaciated dogs came running, and eagerly jumped into her car.

The dogs' owner, who had given up because the dogs had been lost 10 days, cried when Michelle called to say she had them. The dogs had lost 10 pounds each. One needed extensive treatment, but both dogs recovered.

The dogs wouldn't have survived the harsh desert if it hadn't been for the storm that separated them from their owners in the first place. Water had lingered in puddles and in natural bowls in rocks.