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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. – A service dog in training that went missing nearly two months ago survived in frigid Colorado mountain weather conditions with a broken leg. The lost pup was found by hikers and was soon reunited with its owner.
Nova Riley is a 14 month old Bernese mountain dog that had been training as a service dog to assist its owner, Robynne Simons-Sealy, get around. The dog got startled in a parking lot and slipped out of her harness, owner Robynne Simons-Sealy told the Daily Camera.
Simons-Sealy, who is disabled, said neighbors and other members of the community helped the woman search Nova Riley. Although the dog was spotted several times, she was too scared and ran away, her owner said.
“She survived two snow storms and below-freezing weather,” Simons-Sealy told the news outlet. “I was in tears every time it snowed.”
Finally, two hikers spotted Nova Riley near a trail in Meyer Ranch Park on Sunday, Nov. 19, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The park is roughly three miles north of Conifer along U.S. 285.
The hikers who found the pup tried to befriend her when they didn’t see her with any people. However, she had suffered a broken leg and was scared, causing her to bite one of the hikers as they tried to “carry the wounded pet down the mountain,” the sheriff’s office said in post on Facebook.
Nova Riley was found by hikers on a mountain trail in Colorado nearly two months after she went missing. (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office/Instagram)
Therefore, one of the hikers stayed with Nova Riley while the other went to meet the rescuers to show them where the dog was located.
Animal Control Officer Kylie Rupe and three rangers hiked three miles up the mountain trails to recover the missing dog. In addition to having a broken leg she was also severely malnourished and underweight.
Rupe was able to earn Nova Riley’s trust by offering her some dog food and other treats, the Daily Camera reported.
“When we first got up there I had brought treats and food up with me, knowing she would probably be very food-motivated at that point,” Rupe said. “I used food to make friends, and she was very friendly but skittish.”
Once she smelled the food and began to feast, “it was all happy barks and wiggly butts,” Rupe noted.
Rupe said the good Samaritan hiker who was bitten was not seriously injured and didn’t require stitches, the Daily Camera reported.
“As luck would have it, a ranger remembered a lost dog poster posted in the park over a month ago” and they were able to arrange a meet up with Simons-Sealy, the sheriff’s office said.
Nova Riley, a 14-month-old Bernese mountain dog, was found by hikers after she went missing seven weeks ago. (Courtesy Robynne Simons-Sealy)
Simons-Sealy was overfilled with joy after being reunited with Nova Riley, and the pup was ecstatic to see her owner seven weeks after she went missing, the New York Post reported.
“When I walked up to the car it was like I was just another human being, and then she realized and she went crazy,” Simons-Sealy said. “It was so beautiful and so heartwarming and the most wonderful sound of her realizing, ‘I’m safe, I’m okay.’”
During the time she was missing, Nova Riley lost 20 pounds — a quarter of her body weight.
“The only bad part is that she fell off an out cropping of boulders, a slight cliff, and broke her right leg,” Simons-Sealy wrote on Facebook. “Right now she is resting comfortably.”
Although Nova Riley will no longer be able to be Simons-Sealy’s service dog, she will have a forever home with the owner who has received community donations for the medical bills for her pup, she explained.
“I can’t say enough about the kindness of people here,” Simons-Sealy said.
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