Rescuers Hear Frantic Barking During Training — Then a Dog Leads Them to His Brothers
Three dogs ran away from home in search of adventure. Instead, just 12 hours later, Axel, Archie, and Odin ended up six miles away and stranded on a mountain far from their family in Santa Clarita, California.
Luckily for the pups, a routine search-and-rescue training exercise was about to turn into the real thing.
On January 25th, Tony Buttitta and Michael Carriker, reservists with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue team, were on a training mission in Texas Canyon when they heard frantic barking echoing nearby.
They went to investigate and found Axel. The dog was dusty, barking, and pacing back and forth, urgently trying to get their attention. The deputies followed him, and Axel soon led them straight to Archie and Odin. Odin, the Pit bull, was exhausted and too frightened to move.
The men stayed with the dogs, patiently trying to coax them to safety for over an hour. But with Odin in visible distress, and at risk of slipping or falling from the mountain, the deputies called in the rest of the rescue team for help.
Through it all, Archie and Axel remained close beside their canine sibling, sitting with him when he wouldn’t move in a touching sign of brotherly solidarity.
The team asked someone to bring hot dogs, which turned out to be the magic words. All three dogs responded immediately to the familiar words, approaching the rescuers. Odin even rested his head on one man’s leg and let out a visible sigh of relief.
With the dogs safely in hand, rescuers checked their tags and contacted their owners, who rushed to the area. More than two hours later, Axel, Archie, and Odin were finally brought off the mountain and reunited with their relieved family. A happy ending to what could have become a tragedy.
As one viewer commented on the story, “The dogs showed so much love for each other. Thankfully, the rescuers had great patience and persistence.”