Penticton, B.C. resident reunited with lost dog after days of searching

‘Posters were everywhere and I was kinda thinking it was the end of the road. But then I got a call and someone said he was on (Highway 97).’

An Okanagan woman has been reunited with her dog, nearly a week after it ran off.

Maria Moran of Penticton, B.C., said her one-year-old Chihuaha, Rio, went missing on the morning of Nov. 6 in Summerland.

Rio was out with a dog walker when another group of dogs approached. Rio’s leash was dropped, and, in a flash, the Chihuahua bolted.

“I was searching and searching for days on deer trails, in thorn bushes, doing door-to-door canvassing,” Moran told Global News.

“Posters were everywhere and I was kinda thinking it was the end of the road. But then I got a call (Thursday morning) and someone said he was on (Highway 97).”

Like Rio, Moran bolted to her dog’s reported location — around five kilometres from where Rio first took off — and found some people who had noticed, then rescued Rio in front of an RV park on Highway 97.

“I raced out there,” said Moran, who said Rio had chewed through the leash, but also had scrapes from apparently his leash being tangled in a vehicle.

“I was in tears and I still can’t believe that I’ve got him back.”