There are no better moments for the dog and its owner than when they go for a walk in the evening and visit familiar places.
Stella, an 8-year-old German Shorthair Pointer, and her owner, Gary Overman, know this best because they do that almost every day and enjoy it from the bottom of their hearts.
They were convinced that it would be like that one day when they decided to walk to their favorite field along the Colorado River in Arizona.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t like that this time as things quickly soon wrong.
He Was Desperate
Alongside the river, there was a brush in which Stella would regularly disappear on previous walks. It was the same now, but this time her absence was a bit longer. However, Gary still wasn’t worried.
“She has wandered off before, but also always has come back,” Gary told The Dodo. “Her sense of where home is has been displayed several times to be absolutely incredible.”
However, after 15 minutes had passed and Stella was still not anywhere around, Gary started to panic a bit. After calling her name several times without a response, he activated the alarm on her collar, which could usually grab her attention.
Unfortunately, nothing happened and time passed inexorably. Gary didn’t even turn around and it had already been more than an hour and a half since he was in that same place. He was getting desperate and didn’t know what to do next.
“I didn’t know what the right thing to do was,” Gary said. “Do I leave the spot where I know she knows where to come back to and try to find her? Or do I just stay put? I decided to stay put.”
Gary stayed in that same place for a few more minutes, but when he realized that nothing was going to happen there, he headed toward the border. He hoped that his best furry friend had not wandered off to a foreign country from which she would probably never be able to return.
Life-Saving Rescue
While Gary was frantically searching for his beloved dog, in a border town called Yuma, Arizona, about a mile away from where Stella disappeared, the border patrol was monitoring the situation around the Colorado River.
At one point, one of the officers saw something in the water. When the entire patrol took a closer look, they realized that it was an animal that was drowning. Since the animal was trying to swim closer to their boat, they immediately went into action.
Just a few minutes later, these great people pulled the animal out of the water and onto their boat. It was a dog and it was written “Stella” on her collar.
These heroic people had just performed a life-saving action, but they didn’t know that they had made one man the happiest in the world.
They became aware of that when they called the number on Stella’s collar. Gary, who had already begun to lose hope that he would ever see his dog again, could not hide his delight as well as his gratitude towards these people who saved Stella.
“It was a huge blessing. What a difference these guys make,” US Border Patrol, Yuma Sector, quoted Gary’s words in their Facebook post.
Tears Of Joy
As soon as Gary hung up on the happiest call of his life, he headed to the place where the boat carrying his Stella was to board.
When he arrived, he saw the boat approaching, and when he noticed his furry friend, he couldn’t control his emotions anymore.
“Seeing Stella on that boat again, it was an incredible sigh of relief. I must’ve been by an onion field because my eyes were definitely watering.” Gary said.
As soon as Stella set foot on the shore, she and her owner were in each other’s arms. It was one of the most heartwarming reunions these patrol officers had seen. Yet, because of this, they were never happier.
“We are glad to be a part of this happy ending!” they wrote at the end of the post.