Dog lost for days is reunited with owner

Kaila White | The Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption Dog lost for days is reunited with owner Buddy got lost in an Arizona campground. Luckily, two women saw him running down the road and took it upon themselves to find his owner.

FLORENCE, AZ -- As the pair of women waited in line outside the portable showers at the Country Thunder Arizona music festival's campgrounds on Saturday, they noticed a spooked dog sprinting down the dirt road.

"We looked at each other like, ‘Oh my God, it’s killing us. Do we go get him? Not go get him?' " said Shelby Fettkether, who saw the dog with her friend, Sidney West. "We saw him digging in the trash and we were like, 'We can’t handle it.'"

Dogs are allowed at Country Thunder in Florence but sometimes get lost or run away from fireworks or loud music.

Fettkether said she went to help the dog, and he came straight to her. They took him to law enforcement, who offered little help, so they ended up bringing back the dog to their campsite.

Helping 'honey' find his home

Cell reception is poor all over the desert campgrounds, so they couldn't post for help. They heard rumors he might be a farm dog or a stray, but they thought he was sweet, calm and relaxed enough that he must belong to someone, so they bought him dog food and let him stay the night, even coaxing him out when he dove under a neighbor's RV.

"This dog, he was so timid when we had found him. He was scared of the loud noises," Fettkether said. "We kept him warm – he was a snuggle bug – but he didn’t want to walk anywhere."

One of the people in their group started calling him "honey," which he responded to. By Sunday night, they reported him to the lost and found, and Country Thunder notified all attendees and posted on social media about the dog.

Unsure of what to do, Fettkether decided to take him home with her to Surprise in hopes of buying more time to find his owners.

"I find a lot of lost dogs and I can’t ever leave them, but I’ve never been able to find an owner," she said. She was worried he would cause trouble with her two dogs, but he fit right in, snuggled up on the couch. By his second day with her, he warmed up and started wagging his tail, she said.

Eventually a woman found Fettkether through posts about the dog on Facebook and said she was sure the dog was her boyfriend's.

Reunited after a big scare

She said the dog and his owner arrived at the campgrounds early Saturday morning to drop off supplies for her, and in the process the dog jumped out of the Jeep and ran away. The owner crashed his Jeep while looking for his dog and was injured, Kettkether said she told her.

After much coordination, they were able to reunite Wednesday night.

"As soon as he saw his owner, I’ve never seen him so happy," Fettkether said. "Oh my God, this dog was pulling and running to him and jumping up and kissing him. You could tell he knew he was home. He knew who his owner was. It was incredible."

And the dog's name is Buddy – no wonder he responded to "honey," she said. She took video of the reunification, and in it the owner is wearing a cast on his right arm.

The Republic was unable to contact the dog's owner or his girlfriend.

"It's definitely quite the reunion. It was a lot more adventure than we had anticipated in finding this dog," Fettkether said. "Honestly, it was really rewarding."

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