February 12, 2009

Six months after running away in rural Montana, Buck, a Golden Retriever, was reunited last week with his Washington-based family, including Jason, 17, pictured above. (Photo Courtesy of Kim Halter)

Buck, a 7-year-old Golden Retriever, survived six months in Montana wilderness after running away at a rest stop. Raised as a suburban dog in his Washington backyard, he miraculously endured extreme winter weather and was able to fend for himself until last week, when he was reunited with his family.

CHESTER, Mont. -- The freight train rumbled past a rest stop and whistled a piercing scream -- the startling noise spooked 7-year-old Buck, a Golden Retriever, and within seconds, he was gone.

At first, his owners didn't realize anything was awry.

"I came out of the restroom and this woman flagged me down, and said 'Your dog ran away,' " said one of Buck's owners, Kimberly Halter. " 'I said, my dog doesn't run away. He is about 110 pounds and can barely walk, let alone run.' "

But the pet dog was gone, alone in the northern region of Montana, where in the wintertime temperatures can dip to negative 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

And, then, six months later, just as quickly as he disappeared, Buck was miraculously found -- 40 pounds lighter, but the same dog nonetheless, with the constant smile and severe under-bite.

"It's a miracle, it definitely is," said Halter, of Bonney Lake, Wash.

The saga began in mid-August, when Halter and her family, including husband Chuck and sons Jason and Josh, were road tripping from Washington to Montana to visit an ailing family member.

The stop in remote Chester, Mont., was the last one the family had anticipated making before reaching their destination. After the truck came to a halt, Buck jumped out and followed Jason around the parking lot.

Buck normally stuck close to his owners' side and was not on a leash at the time -- a choice Halter now refers to as "a big mistake."

It happened so fast, Halter says. Buck was right there, until he wasn't, anymore.

After the train passed and the family realized Buck was gone, they immediately placed their travel plans on hold, sleeping in their car for the next two nights.

"We went down every street in town yelling his name, just doing everything we could," Halter said. The family went to a local library and printed out "lost dog" posters, which they then pasted on every storefront window.

After two days, though, the family decided to journey on to see their relative in Havre, Mont., around one hour away. Leaving the rest stop was particularly tough on Jason, 17, who had been Buck's constant companion since he was a puppy.

"I have never seen such panic, such heartbreak," Halter said of her son's emotional state. "I had to literally pick him up off the ground and put him in the truck. It was horrible. The worst."

The following six months weren't much better for Jason and his family, who continued to fret over their dog's whereabouts.

Jason remained hopeful that his dog would return, and "show up on our driveway, just like in 'Homeward Bound,' " his mother said of Jason's optimism. She, meanwhile, tried to think that Buck had found another caring family.

At the same time, Halter could not pull herself away from the Internet, where she would frequently monitor the biting weather in the Chester region, located near the base of the Central Montana Rockies.

"Every time I checked the weather I would just get sick and cry," Halter said. "I never let Jason see the weather reports. I didn't want to upset him. It had all affected his whole life, anyway. He was devastated."

On January 25, it was around negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit when Jason Hanken, of Chester, spotted what he thought was a stray dog on his property.

He and his family saw the dog several more times over the next few days, hunkering around in the snow; when the weather eased up and the ice had lessened, Hanken took his snow mobile out to investigate the area. He left some food for Buck near a collapsed barn, which he suspected had been sheltering the dog.

Hanken later returned with food for Buck,thinking he could be the missing pooch pictured in the signs posted around town in August.

He then tried to entice the dog out of his hiding space with more food and water.

"He was real skittish and wanted to just go back underneath," Hanken said. "My wife came out and we were able to coax him out of the barn and into a kennel. He was in tough shape, really skinny."

Hanken fed and watered Buck, before bringing him into the backyard to use the bathroom.

Buck sniffed around and took interest in a tennis ball -- Hanken picked it up, wondering if the stray knew how to play fetch. It turns out, he did.

"He just went gangbusters with activity, was catching it in the air and running all over the place," Hanken said. "It was just like he was never left out in the wild. Once he got into a home setting, it was like he had always been there."

Hanken got in touch with the Halters and sent them pictures of Buck on Saturday, Jan. 31; they recognized him instantly and, within a few hours, were piled back into their car, on the way to Montana.

The Halters drove straight through the night, traveling for nearly 16 hours.

The reunion brought in around 20 neighbors and friends, all eager to see Buck and his family meet after all that time.

"It was awesome," Hanken said. "They came in and Jason kinda knelt down, and Buck came right up to him and they nuzzled their heads together."

Everyone was crying, Halter says, noting that even Buck had a few tears in his eyes.

Though having lost nearly half of his body weight, Buck was declared in perfect health by his vet in Washington, Halter said. Upon returning to Washington, the family outfitted him with new tags, a microchip and a "really tight collar," Halter said.

"He's on a leash now everywhere we go," she said. "We're not taking chances anymore."

No one knows how Buck, who has been coddled since he was a puppy, survived the rugged Montana wilderness.

"Six months out there is just unbelievable," Hanken said of Buck's odds in surviving the ordeal.

Montana may not have seen a dog with such gusto since "The Auditor," a stray Puli who used to wander the mountains of Butte, Mont. The Auditor lived for nearly 17 years by himself, turning only to a local mine for the occasional bowl of chow.

He got his name from his flaky nature, and the miners' uncertainty of just when, and how, he might drop in.

When The Auditor died in 2005, Butte memorialized him with a bronze statue. The dog has also prompted research about environmental conditions, and the way in which typically domesticated dogs can fare in harsh habitats.

"How does anybody survive these nasty temperatures? It gets as low as negative 40, and there are a lot of days in the winter where it is minus 10, minus 20," said Ellen Crain, director of Butte's archives library. "It's an interesting study to see how this dog could make it out there."

Buck did not receive a bronze statue, or even a medal, but he was awarded two new dog sisters, which the family got while he was away.

"We didn't want to replace him, but we just couldn't stand to not have a dog in the house," Halter said.

He also received access to Jason's warm bed, which Halter says Bucks curled up in as soon as he got home.

"Buck just climbed up onto bed and went to sleep, like old times, slept so soundly he was snoring," Halter said. "We don't know what he had to do to survive, but now, he could finally really relax and rest."

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