Dog reunited with owner after weeks in mountains

After more than a month in the mountains during the Waldo Canyon fire, a lucky Colorado Springs dog reunited with her owner Friday.

Abram Faith was coming home from a fishing trip at Rampart Range Reservoir with friends June 22 when the driver lost control and their SUV rolled.

After the crash, Faith got out of the vehicle to check on Sandy, his 9-year-old shepherd mix. When he opened her kennel, she sprinted away. He called and called her, but she didn’t come back.

The next day the Waldo Canyon fire started and Faith was unable to look for Sandy because of road closures.

“I was pretty sure I was never going to see her again,” he said.

Faith hunted for Sandy when the roads reopened and gave her description to the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region and the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter. But he reasoned that in the 100-degree heat and with a wildfire nearby, Sandy’s chances were slim.

On June 28, the staff at the Quaker Ridge Camp and Conference Center north of Woodland Park spotted Sandy but couldn’t catch her.

Angie Davis, who is married to the camp director, called in a description of the dog to the Humane Society and the shelter and continued looking for her.

Between June 28 and July 12 Sandy traveled about 10 miles from the Quaker Ridge Camp to the south end of Woodland Park where she was picked up by animal control.

“She’s got some angels on her shoulder,” Davis said.

If Sandy had gone seven miles north, she would have entered Douglas County where no one was looking for her.

When Sandy arrived, shelter employees scanned her microchip, but it had not been updated with Faith’s information. The shelter employees didn’t think she matched any lost-dog description on record.

After five days, Davis, a humane society employee, came in to volunteer at shelter and recognized that Sandy matched the description Faith had called in.

“It’s a blessing she ended up in Teller County,” Davis said. The shelter called Faith, who came to get his dog, five weeks after she disappeared.

“It’s really a miracle,” Faith said.