JACKSON, Wyo. — It was a happy reunion on Wednesday at approximately 8:27 p.m., when deputies from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office retrieved missing dog Sammy from a trailer park in Alpine, later returning him to his Jackson family.
Sammy went missing from outside his home in Melody around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The dog was wearing a collar with a tracking device which indicated that the dog left the area around that time.
The dog’s owner Mary Brandon Barden told Buckrail that Sammy’s tracking collar pinged at 7:55 p.m. Wednesday evening with an Alpine location, while her family was eating dinner. Barden called dispatch while her husband and son immediately jumped into the car to head toward the address. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office advised the family to wait at the KJ’s gas station in Alpine until deputies could arrive at the scene. Barden said that once the police officers arrived to the approximate location, they called her for the exact coordinates.
“It was at a trailer park and it was like finding a needle in a haystack,” Barden said. “At the same time that I was talking to them [police officers], dispatch literally receive a call from someone who had picked up Sammy in Melody yesterday and had him in Alpine.”
Barden surmised that “the caller got scared when they saw a police car in the area.” The caller shared their address, and the police officers retrieved Sammy within five minutes of the call. According to Barden, the person who had returned Sammy told the police that they had been trying to call the dog’s owner. Barden told Buckrail that this sounded “fishy” because the only phone number listed on Sammy’s dog collar was the local vet’s number.
“He was a hundred percent stolen,” Barden said. “It was unbelievable and a total miracle that he was found.”
Barden credits people spreading the news via social media and the accidental ping of his tile tag (the tracking app) for the safe return of her dog.
“He still had his tag on collar on him,” Barden said. “Thank God they accidentally hit the tile tag and it pinged. It came to me that my tile had been found … they got scared and gave him back.”
At 9:24 p.m., Barden’s husband and son walked into the front the door of their house with Sammy. Barden said that Sammy came home healthy but “very gassy, dehydrated and a bit traumatized.” The pooch was reported to be relieved to be back with his family.
