Man’s best friend, indeed. An Arizona toddler who wandered off from his home and spent the night stranded in the desert was led to safety by a local rancher’s dog.
After a 2-year-old wandered from his home in Seligman, Arizona, 40 search and rescue members, several deputies, DPS, a DPS ranger, and Coconino County Sheriff’s deputies immediately set out on a search and rescue mission, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office explained in a press release.
During a 16-hour, overnight search, the DPS ranger rescue helicopter spotted two mountain lions in the area where the boy was lost.
The toddler was located seven miles away from his home when a rancher named Scotty Dutton reported to police that the boy had been found on his property. Not by him, however, but by his dog.
Rancher Speaks Out After His Dog Led Lost Toddler to Safety
“There was a thousand ways for that to go really, really bad and one good way and luckily it turned out to be the good way,” Dunton told the local NBC affiliate. “That’s a lot of country he went through. Seven miles from here to there. There’s three big canyons and ridges all the way leading to where he came from, so that’s a long rough piece of country. It’s amazing he made it as far as he did.”
Dutton told officials that his dog, an Anatolian Pyrenees named Buford, discovered the boy while patrolling his property. The pup, Dutton speculated, likely protected and directed the missing boy to safety.
“He goes out at night and just kind of patrols,” Dunton said of his dog. “He goes half a mile, a mile from the house and just makes big loops, keeps coyotes out.”
As for how the boy made it through the night with only a few scratches and no major injuries, he told Dutton that he slept under a tree.
“YCSO thanks DPS, search and rescue teams, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, and the public for sharing the flyer,” the sheriff’s office said. “And of course, Buford the dog, who stayed with the boy and brought him to safety.”
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