Dog Found (and saved): Mt. Bierstadt!

[Scott P]

Has anyone contacted 21kmiller to see if she is real?

She posted some close up photos of the dog with the owner which makes her sound pretty real to me (unless she was the owner herself). If she was fake (and not the owner), it seems that the owner would have called her out on it as well.

I am glad the dog is safe. Once I ran into a horse stranded on top of Black Mountain (Elkhead Mountains) in mid-November. It was hobbled and I couldn’t really do anything alone. I had no knife and I couldn’t get the hobbles off, nor walk it down the mountain, though I tried on both accounts. I ran down the trail and flagged down some hunters in a hunting camp to see if they could help. They went up to rescue the horse and I did all that I could see myself doing (I had no camping gear to spend the night). Anyway, I thought about the horse a lot and how long it had been there.

I’m glad to see the dog safe. It’s very good to know that it was rescued. I wish the dog a long happy life.

[madbuck]

People are understandably upset, and one common thread is not understanding how this could happen. It's been mentioned briefly, but to play amateur psychologist, the owner had a highly stressful situation and was clearly in denial, which is a well-known stress response. This doesn't make it right -- a person involved in a hit-and-run accident might also have denial about it -- but the idea is that, as a way to cope, he did not believe that the dog was out there suffering.

What a load of crap. This rationalization can be applied to any irresponsible, heinous act. The fact is that the poor dog was out there slowly dying a horrible death of kidney failure due to thirst and Anthony was fully aware of it. Ponder that.

False. Heinous acts (say, dogfighting) are done deliberately for personal gain (if not mental disorder).
Stress/panic-related denial and inaction is different. But the consequences of inaction can be worse than other deliberate acts.

Not a justification -- I don't know how clear I have to make that (and I will not belabor the point otherwise) -- but trying to explain what the failure is in this case, so that Anthony or others can learn from it and the limitations we need to overcome when faced with stressful situations. There are and will continue to be people on this board and on these mountains that will be heroic when the time comes for it, and others that will not be useful. Preparing oneself ahead of time for the possibility of reaction to tragedy (in this case, denial) is important for mitigating the effects.
My interest here is in prevention, not justification.

[fleetmack]

Let it go. Move on.

He made a mistake in judgement.
He has to live with it no one else does. Give the guy a break... the dog will if given a chance.

Holy crap, I agree with rustic 2.0 has arrived!

Glad this turned out well. The owner sounds truly sorry, remorseful. I can think back to a specific time when I made a mistake that one person deemed unforgivable. I truly felt (still feel) terrible, am ashamed of it, and have become a better person because of it. I am still upset that person won't forgive me. For these reasons, I pray that those who feel the need to forgive this person can do so.

Owner - you are fine, and if I knew you, I'd be very proud to call you my friend in the way you have handled this since you found this thread. You stepped it up from that point forward, and appear to have learned. Kudos to moving forward instead of backwards. My advice to you: seek forgiveness, re-prove yourself, and ignore those who aren't able to find forgiveness and kindness in their hearts.

[LadyDnvr]

I work with Anthony and in fact, I am his employer. I would urge all of you not to pass judgement so quickly. You have not seen Anthony and Missy together. She adores him and he adores her. I saw Anthony the day after this happened and he was emotionally and physically devastated. He could barely walk and had blisters from trying to get Missy down the mountain. I had the misfortune to demanding that he go out of state to work on a project that involved many other people and could not be postponed or cancelled. He wanted to return to look for Missy but he had no choice in the matter. My heart was breaking for him.

A few things you may not know as you were not there. I know for a fact that Anthony carried Missy as far as he could. He was responsible for the safe return of a younger man he was hiking with and as the weather was changing he had to put this young man's safety first. Anthony honestly believed that Missy had passed away. If Anthony had known that a search could be organized on this site, I am 100% certain that he would have reached out to this community even though he could not have been a part of the search.

Missy is a very beloved and well cared for pet and if you asked her, I can assure you, she would ask that she be returned home to Anthony. From the outside, I can understand your anger but if you knew the whole story and the relationship between Missy and Anthony, you would know that Missy would simply want to go home.

[metalmountain]

Holy crap, I agree with rustic 2.0 has arrived!

Glad this turned out well. The owner sounds truly sorry, remorseful. I can think back to a specific time when I made a mistake that one person deemed unforgivable. I truly felt (still feel) terrible, am ashamed of it, and have become a better person because of it. I am still upset that person won't forgive me. For these reasons, I pray that those who feel the need to forgive this person can do so.

Owner - you are fine, and if I knew you, I'd be very proud to call you my friend in the way you have handled this since you found this thread. You stepped it up from that point forward, and appear to have learned. Kudos to moving forward instead of backwards. My advice to you: seek forgiveness, re-prove yourself, and ignore those who aren't able to find forgiveness and kindness in their hearts.

My sentiments exactly. If we all had our mistakes laid out in a public forum we would all look like pretty awful people.

[lpyle]

As one of the people on this forum who does not think Missy should be returned to Anthony, I want to be clear that I do not blame him for leaving her up there in the first place. It's not what I would have done with one of my dogs, but we all know sh*t happens in the mountains and people make split second decisions that can be second-guessed later. I just do not understand the lack of action on his part afterwards. Maybe he was in denial, I don't know. It would not have required him hiking back up there - all it would have taken is a few phone calls to mobilize the kind of response that happened yesterday. Again, I think Missy deserves better.

[scalba123]

I work with Anthony and in fact, I am his employer. I would urge all of you not to pass judgement so quickly. You have not seen Anthony and Missy together. She adores him and he adores her. I saw Anthony the day after this happened and he was emotionally and physically devastated. He could barely walk and had blisters from trying to get Missy down the mountain. I had the misfortune to demanding that he go out of state to work on a project that involved many other people and could not be postponed or cancelled. He wanted to return to look for Missy but he had no choice in the matter. My heart was breaking for him.

A few things you may not know as you were not there. I know for a fact that Anthony carried Missy as far as he could. He was responsible for the safe return of a younger man he was hiking with and as the weather was changing he had to put this young man's safety first. Anthony honestly believed that Missy had passed away. If Anthony had known that a search could be organized on this site, I am 100% certain that he would have reached out to this community even though he could not have been a part of the search.

Missy is a very beloved and well cared for pet and if you asked her, I can assure you, she would ask that she be returned home to Anthony. From the outside, I can understand your anger but if you knew the whole story and the relationship between Missy and Anthony, you would know that Missy would simply want to go home.

This must be either the third or fourth first-time poster on this site. Is Anthony recruiting support?

[Floyd]

I am more interested in the legal ramifications of abandonment than seeing this dog returned to its previous owner.

Tired? Blisters? Really?!?! I just got back from a 9-day backpacking trip and I was dressing my blisters on mile 7 of our 14-mile 1st day. By the middle of the trip, my partners were wondering how I was even walking let alone still having a good time. After I got out, my feet swelled to the point I couldn't put shoes on for 3 days. Suck it up and if you are going to go for a hike, know how to care for yourself before you start bringing others (dog or human) with you. Plus, I don't care if weather is moving in. If you need to find shelter, find it. And then, when the weather moves on, you return to your partner that trusted her life in your hands and you continue to work to get her to safety.

I understand that you think you love that dog, but you have a lot to learn about love, trust, responsibility. Hopefully, this all sinks in before you even consider parenthood. After leaving her for dead for 8 days and doing NOTHING (a phone call doesn't cut it), I'll be appalled if that dog is placed back in your hands.

I think this says it best:

[dccolo]

I work with animalhelpnow.org and became involved with this rescue Sunday morning. A colleague and I made several phone calls and enlisted a volunteer to join the rescue party. One of our calls was to Clear Creek County Sheriff dispatch, who said SAR is for people only and animal control responds only to situations that are accessible by road. Summit County Animal Control put us in touch with two SAR members. Both were helpful with advice but unwilling or unable to assist in the rescue.

It seems there’s a need to formalize an animal emergency response system. Our organization could help with that (as could, perhaps, 14ers.com?). Maybe there’s an Animal SAR model out there somewhere we could use. If you're interested in exploring that, please email info@ahnow.org.

Once again, hats off to the rescuers, and a big thanks to the 14ers.com community. Wishing the best for Missy in the days and years ahead.

[SolarAlex]

heres some pictures from the rescue

[dccolo]

I work with animalhelpnow.org and became involved with this rescue Sunday morning. A colleague and I made several phone calls and enlisted a volunteer to join the rescue party. One of our calls was to Clear Creek County Sheriff dispatch, who said SAR is for people only and animal control responds only to situations that are accessible by road. Summit County Animal Control put us in touch with two SAR members. Both were helpful with advice but unwilling or unable to assist in the rescue.

It seems there’s a need to formalize an animal emergency response system. Our organization could help with that (as could, perhaps, 14ers.com?). Maybe there’s an Animal SAR model out there somewhere we could use. If you're interested in exploring that, please email info@ahnow.org.

Once again, hats off to the rescuers, and a big thanks to the 14ers.com community. Wishing the best for Missy in the days and years ahead.

[MattK]

I left her because I felt that I had to. I didn't go hiking with the intention of leaving my dog up there.

You and Kristen, and now others seem to be missing the point. Not very many people are chastising you for your decision to leave your dog, which you and her seem to endlessly defend. What people are finding deplorable is that outside of what sounds like a few phone calls, you more or less shrugged your shoulders, stared at the blisters on your feet, and then with the consolation from friends that, "Well, she probably passed away in a few days anyways", carried on.

I keep seeing the pictures of how loved she appears to be, and all his friends keep telling me how much he loves her. Yep, each time I see and read these it truly tugs at my heartstrings, but then I just go back to page one of this thread and see the picture of the dog laying there, thirsty, hungry, tired, scared, lonely, injured.....and not one god damn person looking for her, even in the first few days. You may love her, but not enough apparently...sorry.

P.S. I freakin love it..."we had to risk drinking creek water"....