Don’t give up.
That’s three words one rescuer believes saved a blind dog named Sage.
The 12-year-old yellow Lab from Boulder Creek, California, survived seven nights in the cold Santa Cruz Mountains after wandering away from her home on Feb. 24, San Francisco’s ABC 7 New reports.
“We were so heartbroken and just feeling so bad that she was out there,” said the dog’s owner Beth Cole, who posted missing signs when the dog disappeared. Despite bringing in a handler with a tracking dog to find the missing pooch, there was still no sign of Sage.
Things took a turn on Saturday, when a neighbor named Dan Estrada was out on a hike and spotted something.
“And while we were hanging out talking, next thing you know, I look over and see Sage laying on the ground right with her head in the stream,” he told ABC7 News, adding that he thought the dog didn’t make it.
When the pooch lifted her head, Estrada jumped in the stream to help her. “I put my arms around her and hugged her and threw her over my shoulders and carried her up the mountain,” he told the station.
Everyone who loved the dog had been hoping for his survival. “I was hugging everybody, you know, his friend, him, my son, Sage you know,” she said. “It was just amazing.”
Estrada says that Sage — who lost her eyes due to health problems, the story said — is one tough canine.
“It’s been harsh conditions and that dog had such a strong will to live,” Estrada said. “And I think everybody has a lesson to be learned from that: Don’t give up.”
