Saskatoon woman relieved to be united with dog lost in blizzard

Julia Neufeldt is feeling relieved these days.

But that wasn’t the case last week.

Neufeldt had asked one of her friends to take her dog Louie, a Golden Retriever, to the Furdale dog park last Sunday to get some exercise before the storm hit.

Louie ran off and Neufeldt’s friend couldn’t find him. Neufeldt says she and others then headed out to the dog park to look for Louie.

She said they searched all over, calling his name, but the storm was picking up so they had to pack it in.

“The blizzard was getting pretty bad, ice pellets were starting to hit us in the face so we finally had to call it after about two hours I’d say…it was awful,” said Neufeldt.

She says she called Corman Park Police, Animal Control and the SPCA hoping to get some help finding Louie.

Finally, on Wednesday Neufeldt got a call. Animal Control had received a call from a man who was out cross country skiing in the area with his dog.

“He was found I was told about 50 metres outside the south end of Furdale park. He had made himself a little cave in the snow,” said Neufeldt.

She says it was actually the man’s dog, a Pointer, that found Louie.

“His name is Banjo and he is the one that sniffed out Louie and actually dragged his owner over to the little cave that Louie made,” said Neufeldt.

Neufeldt says she is surprised at how resourceful Louie was in trying to protect himself from the elements.

“If he’s outside even in like a slight drizzle, he’s at the gate whining, so I was shocked he even had the common sense to dig himself a little hole and survive for three days in a blizzard,” said Neufeldt. ” I definitely underestimated Louie.”

Neufeldt says it was a wonderful reunion when they were finally brought back together, but Louie didn’t go through the adventure unscathed.

“He has a torn left ACL on his left back knee and he has a slight tear on the right one and we’re still waiting for confirmation on it, but the vet’s fairly confident that he has a full tear in the left leg,” said Neufeldt. “He’s obviously a little skinnier but he loves food so I don’t think that’s going to take too long to get his weight back up.”

Neufeldt says she thinks Louie likely hurt himself after feeling panicked all alone out in the storm and maybe running through trees and the deep snow.

“You know that’s why we went out there every single day calling for him and that’s maybe why he didn’t come to us because he was probably hurt.”

Neufeldt says they are all just happy to have Louie back and look forward to getting him fixed up and back to his old self.

“He’s a year-and-a-half old with lots of zest and lots of energy for life, so we’re definitely going to get him into surgery and get him back to doing what he loves best, playing and running around,” said Neufeldt. “And getting into mischief, obviously.”