Monday, April 6, 2009

If You Really Know Me.....

You know I would rather be on some land with a ranch home and about 3 Australian Cattle Dogs roaming around. I love animals, always have always will. There is just something about petting a dog or cat that is therapeutic and brings joy to my life. So this morning on my yahoo news online, this story caught my attention about a lost dog found 4 months later! Amazing story considering the dog was lost at sea but another reason it made me happy this Monday morning was that it was a cattle dog! :)
Sweet story, I hope you enjoy it today!

Dog overboard found four months later


SYDNEY (AFP) – A pet dog that fell overboard in rough seas off Australia has been reunited with its owners after surviving alone on an island for four months, reports said.

Sophie Tucker, apparently named after a late US entertainer, fell overboard as Jan Griffith and her family sailed through choppy waters off the northeast Queensland coast in November.

The dog was believed to have drowned and Griffith said the family was devastated.

But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally made it to St Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life popularised by the TV reality show "Survivor."

She was returned to her family last week when Griffith contacted rangers who had captured a dog that had been living off feral goats on the largely uninhabited island, in the faint hope it might be their long-lost pet.

When the Griffiths met the rangers' boat bringing the dog to the mainland they found that it was indeed Sophie Tucker on board.

"We called the dog and she started whimpering and banging the cage and they let her out and she just about flattened us," Griffith told the national AAP news agency.

"She wriggled around like a mad thing."

Griffith said that when the dog was first spotted on the island she had been in poor condition.

"And then all of a sudden she started to look good and it was when the rangers had found baby goat carcasses so she'd started eating baby goats," she said.

Sophie Tucker, a member of the Australian cattle dog breed, had been quick to readjust to the comforts of home, complete with airconditioning, Griffiths said.

"She surprised us all. She was a house dog and look what she's done, she's swum over five nautical miles, she's managed to live off the land all on her own," Griffiths said.

"We wish she could talk, we truly do."

2 comments:

Cruson Crew said...

Oh! Sweet story!! We had a doberman growing up that hitched a ride with the UPS man one time and ended up living in Arlington for a few months until word got out we had lost one...he finally made his way home!

Crystal said...

You know me...I don't get all sappy over pets...but this is awesome! Of course, we all know that cattle dogs are geniouses!!

(I may not be...is that how you spell genious-es!?!...whatever!)

:p