Owner goes to all lengths to find lost Colorado dog. Turns out, she was just feet away

A 6-year-old dog was found 10 days after going missing from her Colorado home, rescuers said.

A Bernese and black Labrador retriever mix named Pepper went missing on Feb. 22, according to a Facebook post by Summit Lost Pet Rescue.

Pepper’s owners in Blue River called the rescue when they couldn’t find her and they set up cameras, posted on social media and hung signs around the neighborhood, officials said.

Rescue teams thought Pepper might be stuck since there had been “zero sightings” of her, so they handed out flyers telling neighbors to check garages, decks and tree wells, officials said.

After thinking Pepper might be stuck in the snow, volunteers put on their snowshoes and continued the search, officials said.

Volunteers gathered clues like seeing dog tracks “circling the neighborhood near her house,” officials said. Pepper wasn’t showing up on any cameras rescuers set up so they weren’t sure if the prints belonged to her.

Eventually, a volunteer along with his dog Finn decided to search an area by a creek again, the post said.

”We often take our dogs on searches with us and use them as “magnet dogs,’” the rescue said. “When pets go missing, they often are afraid of humans, but have a better trust with other dogs.”

The volunteer at first didn’t see any sign of Pepper, but Finn didn’t want to leave the location, rescuers said.

That’s when the volunteer saw Pepper’s “tag shining on her collar,” officials said.

Pepper was “taking shelter under a fallen tree” in the area “surrounded by steep snowbanks,” the post said.

The volunteer called Pepper’s owner, who brought his son to help rescue her, officials said.

Pepper, who proved to be in good health after medical evaluations, was found just 714 feet from her house, the rescue said.

Blue River is about an 80-mile drive southwest of Denver.

This story was originally published March 7, 2024 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Owner goes to all lengths to find lost Colorado dog. Turns out, she was just feet away."