Carole and Verne King returned to their hotel after a late night at a stock-car race in Kalispell, Mont.

and they were devastated to find out that their 7-year-old Border collie, Katie, was no longer in the room.

An attendant said that she had seen an anxious dog bolt out the front door hours before. The Kings were shocked as they thought how would they find their dog in the small city of 23,000 people that backs up to the sprawling wilderness near Glacier National Park, surrounded by forests and fields.

The couple decided to start a search that included night-vision goggles, animal-tracking cameras and horse manure brought in from the family’s farm in Eastern Washington. 

After 37 days into the search, Carole needed to return home to her job as a postal carrier in Spokane, Washington. But she learned that she would not get any additional time to search her dog then Carole King decided to quit her job.

”Katie was just more important to me,” Carole told the Times. “I just said, ‘I’ll finish this week, and that’s it.”

”Every night going to bed, it was gut-wrenching,” said Mr. King. “Is she warm? Did she get to eat today? It tore us up.”

Fifty-three days into the search Carole lost all hopes and decided to give up but Verne encouraged her to not lose hope and keep going.

After 57 days of search on the morning of Sept. 15, 2019, Carole King got another tip, this time from someone in a subdivision near the hotel.  The resident said he was looking out the window and saw a dog matching Katie’s description in their backyard.

They rushed to get the dog back and others in the group went silent as Carole called out to the dog. Katie came running and fell into her arms.

”All I could think about was, ‘I’m done. I got her,’” Carole told the Times. “I was crying, I was holding onto her, wrapped her up in a bear hug. I couldn’t get her in the car fast enough to close her in so I wouldn’t lose her again.”

The poor dog Katie was dirty, dehydrated and had lost 15 pounds. They took her to an emergency vet and Katie was taken care of by the vet. The family reunited and the couple were happy to get their dog back.

 

 

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