YOUTUBER RESCUES SENIOR GREAT PYRENEES DOG DURING CROSS-CANADA CANOE TRIP
Source: Good News Network (Extract)
Posted: August 12, 2024
A Kiwi kayaker on a cross-country journey through Canada’s creeks and rivers made an unexpected detour to rescue a man’s dog trapped under a log.
Ivy, a 14-year-old Great Pyrenees, had ventured too far from her owner’s property in Manitoba and became stuck in the thick mud of a river, leaving her unable to free herself. Weakened by the weight of the mud clinging to her fur, Ivy was barely able to keep her head above water when Tom Hudson—an unlikely hero—came across her just in time.
Flying to British Columbia from his home in New Zealand, Tom Hudson had traveled across Canada as far as Manitoba, near The Pas, when he heard faint barking on the morning of July 29th. Curious, he decided to take a detour to investigate.
Unbeknownst to Hudson, Ivy’s owner had been searching for her the entire previous day. Unfortunately, thick brush had prevented him from seeing or hearing the elderly dog, who was trapped just a quarter of a mile from home.
Hudson secured his canoe, lifted the log off Ivy’s back, and carried her through knee-deep mud before carefully placing her on the canoe. It was her first time on the water, and Hudson, who was documenting his cross-country canoe journey on Instagram and YouTube, captured a telling photo of Ivy’s initial reaction.
He paddled roughly 400 yards downstream until he reached a dock. After gently setting Ivy down, he went to ring the doorbell, hoping the person who answered could offer assistance.
As it turned out, they could.
“She’s a pretty lucky old dog that he came by when he did,” said her owner, Tom Stait, who opened the door to find the pair covered in mud. “He could have gone the other way, on the opposite side of the river, and would have never seen her. I probably would have never found her.”
The New Zealand accent must have been as surprising as the fact that a stranger was returning his dog. Hudson stayed to help wash Ivy off, and afterward, Stait invited him to share a meal with his family and rest for the night. Hudson accepted the offer and later told CBC News, which covered the story, that he couldn’t have done anything but help the dog.
“Being just hundreds of meters from home, probably able to hear and smell your owner… I thought it would have been a terrible way to go,” he said. “So there was no way I could have not done what I did.”
Hudson’s canoe journey was cut short before he could reach Montreal, but he plans to return next spring to complete the trip. Speaking to CBC News, he shared that his experience left him with the impression that all the world’s kindest people are in Canada, making him as fond of the nation as he is of the wilderness and wildlife he encountered along the way.