Blind dog had been missing for over 1 week. Here's the amazing rescue by one brave man (6+ photos)

For eight days, Sage, a 12-year old blind Labrador Retriever, was missing from her home. Her family thought she had been brought in the house after a day in the backyard, but they soon realized that she had been accidentally left outside and had wandered off. Sage's owners feared the worst.
"Ten of our neighbors joined our family in the search that lasted until late that night," said Beth Cole, Sage's owner. "Then they came back to help for several days after that [...] We have predators in the area, so we thought there was a chance she'd died."
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But what could have been a tragic story was saved by the actions of one braved man named Dan Estrada, the Coles' neighbor.
Estrada, a firefighter, and his friend, Vincent Lopez, had gone for a hike with their dogs in the redwood forest behind Estrada's Californian home. As they came around a bend in a stream, Estrada spotted an object near the water.
"At first I thought it was a garbage bag in the water,” said Estrada. “My vision is not very good so it wasn’t until I got closer that I saw it’s actually a white lab laying there lifeless in this stream – her chin just above water level.”
Estrada feared that they had found Sage's body, and he was already thinking of how to break the news to the Coles. But then he saw Sage's head move as his dogs came closer to her.
“When we saw she was alive, I jumped in the stream and hugged her,” Estrada said. “Man, it was really emotional.”
Considering the time of year, if Estrada has not found Sage that day, the story may have ended very differently. “It had been dry that week and the new rain was moving in,” said Estrada. “When we found her she didn’t have the energy to lift herself out. That streambed would have been flowing during a rainstorm.”
Sage was physically and emotionally exhausted from her week away from her home, so Estrada bent down and hoisted the dog onto his shoulders and carried her out of the gully.
"She walked maybe ten steps, but she was moving a little bit slow," Estrada said. "Then she ran into a log. I realized that there was no way she was going to be to walk on her own. So I put the dog on my shoulders, and we made our way back up."
After bringing Sage up from the stream, Estrada immediately contacted the Cole family to give them the good news. They raced to meet Estrada and to see the dog they were afraid they'd lost forever.
"They were crying, they were happy," Estrada said. "We were about halfway up the mountain, and I could see that they were all teary-eyed."
Beth Cole was grateful and amazed at the outpouring of love and support from her neighborhood and community. Sage has been given lots of extra love and attention since she has returned home.
“I can’t emphasize enough the amount of support we’ve received from everyone,” Cole said. “It’s been amazing. Since she’s returned home people have been bringing by snacks for her; one neighbor cooked her a steak.”
It's no surprise to anyone who knows Estrada that he would be at the heart of a rescue. Aside from his job saving people as a firefighter, Estrada also rescued both his dogs, a pit bull named Coelsch, who was abandoned at his firehouse, and a Daschund-terrier mix named Barnabas.
The Coles offered both Estrada and Lopez the $1,000 reward they had posted for Sage, but both men refused to take the money. They asked that the money instead be donated to an animal charity.
Three cheers for Estrada and Lopez for going the extra mile to save Sage. Share this heroic rescue with your family and friends on Facebook!
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