‘Don’t give up, have faith’: Dog Reunited with Family 7 Days After Local Volunteer Search Effort

A small army of community volunteers worked over a week to locate and rescue a lost dog on Vancouver Island.

The mastiff-retriever named Luna chased an animal out of the yard of Highlands area resident Saryta Schaerer, before getting lost and falling down a steep slope onto a two foot-wide ledge.

Rescuers and neighbors kept up the search for days, but with no luck.

“It was terrible because it was getting colder and she always sleeps next to me or my daughter,” said Schaerer.

Across a body of water from where Luna had gotten stuck, local resident Ron Cheeke picked up her trail after he heard her cries for help. He notifed ROAM, a local pet rescue organization, before going out on a boat to try and locate the source of the barking.

“I used a pot and pan, and every time I banged on the pot and pan the dog barked back,” Cheeke told CTV News on Monday.

That’s when ROAM arrived and finally got to Luna. They pulled her up with a harness and reunited the dog with her owner.

Local news reports that the rescue team were almost as happy to do the work as Schaerer was to see her dog again.

“Your dog’s out there, it’s just a matter of time until we get her,” said ROAM volunteer Andy Carswell, speaking hypothetically to anyone who loses a pet. “Sometimes they come back in an hour, sometimes it’s a day, sometimes its seven, like Luna,” he said. “Just don’t give up, have faith.”

WATCH CTV coverage of the rescue below…