12-year-old blind labrador spends 8 days in the forest alone. It's hard to believe this rescue story

The family was very upset when they learned that Sage, their blind, 12-year-old Labrador was missing from their home. They believed that she had come in with them after they had spent some time out in the yard, but after about an hour later, it was realized that they had unintentionally left her outside.

Immediately, the family began searching round their home in Boulder Creek, California, because they thought that she was just roving around the area. But they still couldn't locate her. Little did they know the search would take up to a week, and you'll never guess how the rescue came about.

Beth Cole, Sage's owner, coopted ten of her neighbors who joined the family in the search that lasted until late in the night after which they came back continuously for several days to assist in the search.

After the fifth day of searching, the family began to lose hope. And so it was on the fifth, sixth, seventh until the eighth day.

Cole considered the possibility that she was dead since there were predators in the area.

But despite that, Cole together with her family continued the search. Flyers were put up all around their neighborhood, communicated to all their neighbors and even posted on social media:
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It was Cole’s next door neighbor, Dan Estrada, who eventually found Sage, though it happened completely by accident.

Dan and his friend Vincent, accompanied by Dan’s two dogs, Köelsch and Barnabas, had gone for a relaxed hike in the forest surrounding Estrada's house.

After hiking for about fifteen minutes, Dan saw something lying next to a stream at the base of a slope.

He first thought that it was a trash bag and became quite angry because nobody wanted folks to dump trash in the forest. But when he took a closer look, he saw that it was Sage.

That was when his heart sank because Sage was positioned inside a small cove that was beside the stream, and she wasn't moving. He thought that she was dead.

He was very distraught because he didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news and didn’t know how to tell her family.

As Dan carefully made his way down the slope, his friend Vincent noticed that she had raised her head and called out to Dan that she was alive. 

Immediately, Dan began moving a lot quicker and jumped into the stream, hustling to get to her. After which he hugged and kissed her and began to pet her. Only then was she able to wag her tail and raise her head up.
Then she noticed the two dogs, Barnabas and Köelsch, whom she knew quite well.

Dan then said, "I think she was happier to see Barnabas and Köelsch then she was to see me."

Dan assisted Sage to stand up and attempted to get her to walk, but she was weak and exhausted since she hadn't eaten for eight days.

"She walked maybe ten steps, but she was moving a little bit slow," Dan 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."

As they were making their way back home, Dan's friend called Sage's family to inform them of their discovery. When Cole as well as her family were reunited with Sage, they were so overcome with emotion.

"They were crying and were very happy," Estrada said. "We were about halfway up the mountain, and I could see that they were all teary-eyed." 

The Cole family had offered a $1,000 reward to anybody who found Sage, but Dan refused to take the money. He asked that it be donated to an animal rescue organization.

"Our family is so grateful to have Sage home!" Cole said. "Our small town has really pulled together around this happy ending made possible by our neighbor Dan."

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