00:00Mia is just a domestic dog, but she was out there with all the coyotes.
00:05She would disappear for days. She was gone. We don't know where she was at. The drones couldn't
00:10even find her. For 17 days, a huge community effort using thermal drones and trail cameras
00:17was the only hope of bringing Mia home safely after she got lost in more than 3,000 acres
00:24of wilderness. It's probably going to be a rock.
00:30It was at the end of our walk one day after work. We were at the park. Mia got in
00:35between
00:35the other two dogs and the leashes got tangled. And so her leash dropped. That retractable leash
00:42followed her as she ran and made her run even faster and farther away from us because it was
00:48bouncing right behind her. It was starting to get to be dusk and the sun was starting to go down
00:53when we lost her. It was shocking to us. Like, what is just happening? I literally ran across the field
00:59and down to try to catch her. My husband went. We had two other dogs with us. So he put
01:04those dogs
01:04in the car, tried to go a different way to see if we can track her down. We searched high
01:09and low for
01:10her in the park thinking of where she might go. Normally, we're going to see something that's red
01:15and kind of radiating for a live thing. But the darkness and sheer size of the glacial park
01:21conservation area forced an agonizing pause for the night. We were really devastated. We had to leave
01:28the park with her loose in it. The next morning, we came up early. Friends and family wanted to help.
01:34I have a niece that really is into social media. She actually connected with Mike Smith at Smithic Air.
01:41She found the drone. We got Michael Davis from Best Furry Friends and he came out that day. He took
01:46his
01:46drone out, looked all day. At night, he looked. But we were looking at the last place that we located
01:52her.
01:52There was one section of the park we could not get from our location. So we asked the park rangers
01:58for permission to go up to the upper ledge where it had more radius to be able to see the
02:04north of
02:05the park. And that's where we found her. Her harness had reflection on it. So that's how we picked her
02:11up.
02:11It was awesome. We actually woke her up a little bit because I said, I want proof of life. I
02:16wanted to
02:16make sure she was still alive because she was just, you know, laying there. So he woke her up with
02:21the drone
02:21and, but at least she was walking and we were very happy to see her and at least know where
02:25she's at.
02:26She was many, like over 2,000 feet away. We were trying to bring her closer to like an entrance
02:33place where we could try to lure her in.
02:42I'd like to move her back into the field, but I don't want her to turn around.
02:50Hi, I'm trying to move you.
02:54Mia is about 10 feet from the end of that trail.
03:01We're about to get onto the three mil, the, the four wheel track.
03:08Maybe. She might not. She might come right down. She's going to be to your left by 20 yards.
03:14If you can get your dog to go in that direction.
03:24She is now on the track.
03:30She's going to come right out by those turnaround tracks.
03:35The far one's from you, Donna.
03:38Yep.
03:39They definitely can see each other now.
03:41Yep.
03:42She's not a liar, baby.
03:45You're a funky girl.
03:52Okay, that's great.
03:58How far is she, Mike, from Donna?
04:0020 feet.
04:02Oh, my.
04:06I can see yourself.
04:08Yep. Don't, don't say anything.
04:10Don't talk. Don't talk.
04:11It's just us.
04:15Nope.
04:16Got spooked again.
04:18It was almost a success, but she took off when she saw me.
04:22It was a heartbreaking realization.
04:24After days in the wild, the sweet family dog had fundamentally changed her mindset.
04:30So that's when we found out that they go into the survival mode, so they don't even recognize their own
04:36pet parents, you know, when this is going on.
04:39The first week, we didn't even work.
04:41My husband and I, we took off work.
04:43We were there all day, every day, looking, trying to find her.
04:48I think she's out further in the field this way.
04:50She's out further to the west of everything.
04:56What direction is she traveling from that point?
04:59So she traveled west all the way to that point.
05:04Once we found her location, we put up food stations.
05:07So we kept refilling those food stations twice a day and just being there.
05:13Knowing chasing her would only push her further away.
05:17And with wild predators nearby, the team shifted tactics.
05:21They needed to anchor Mia to a safe spot.
05:25And then I hope they can drive you right down to that area with the dog.
05:43We had Illinois Lost Pets helping us track down the decision makers to be able to use a live trap.
05:51Because if we were in a conservation park, she was out there with all the coyotes.
05:54We finally, by the end of the second week, got permission to do a live trap.
05:59By that time, we started to be able to track where she would go.
06:03I had my sweaters out there.
06:05I had taken, you know, my dogs to and from the one food station to the new one.
06:11So she started coming to the closer food station for us.
06:15And that's where we decided to put the trap.
06:17Because she was showing up there more regularly.
06:32Do you remember me?
06:33The camera showed that she was always sleeping on my sweaters right by there.
06:37So she was ready to come home.
06:38It was wonderful.
06:39Saturday morning, she went halfway and didn't go.
06:42We knew it would be another 24 hours before she would try again.
06:45Sunday morning, bright and early, 5 a.m.
06:47She went into the trap to eat and we were able to catch her.
06:51So it was awesome.
06:53But catching her was only step one.
06:57Bringing a dog out of survival mode takes patience and care to avoid further trauma.
07:02There was a planned routine on putting a blanket over her.
07:06We carried it into the car.
07:07I sat with her in the back seat talking to her.
07:10Came home.
07:11We actually opened up the garage door, brought the crate in the garage door and then closed it.
07:15And then brought her into the house.
07:18From there, she's going to be scared.
07:19And she was.
07:20She was very scared.
07:21But she's doing great now.
07:23She stays with me all the time.
07:24She follows me everywhere.
07:26She doesn't like to go outside by herself.
07:28So I'm always with her.
07:29But she's getting braver and we've been going back on walks.
07:32She loves to go on the walk.
07:34She wags her tails and she's very happy.
07:37We would have not caught her if it was not for the help of Linda and the two Mikes.
07:41They had so much valuable experience and taught us a lot and what we should and shouldn't do.
07:48So this was for sure a Team Mia situation where it took a bunch of people to get her back
07:54home with us.
08:01You
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