After a frantic four hours of search and rescue, a two-year-old toddler from Michigan was found sleeping in the woods amid sweet dreams, fairy dust, and the two family dogs whom she had “wrapped around her finger.”
Thea Chase was playing barefoot in the yard of her home in rural Faithorn, Michigan, when her uncle instructed her to go inside and put some shoes on.
Her Mother Brooke said she had the instinct to go and check on her and their two dogs, a Rottweiler named Buddy, and an English Springer named Hartley.
It soon became terrifyingly clear that Thea was no longer in the yard, after which Brooke and Thea’s uncle began to shout for her. They searched the woods near at hand to the house for about a quarter of an hour before calling the police and Chase’s husband.
“When we get a call like that, everything else stops,” Michigan State Police Lt. Mark Giannunzio told CNN.
In the rural area, the police put out a call for drones, canine teams, and search and rescue personnel to comb the county, while members of Brooke’s close-knit community in town formed their own search party.
MORE RESCUE STORIES: 12-year-old Uses Boy Scout Know-How to Rescue Lost Couple and Injured Dog on a Hike
Eventually, around midnight, a family friend who was still out looking for Thea on ATV discovered Buddy by the side of a trail. He reported that as he approached the dog started barking.
The still-shoeless 2-year-old was located a short way from the trail, sleeping as soundly as a wood nymph, her head atop Hartley’s body. When the ATV driver tried to wake her up, Hartley informed the man with a not-so-polite growl that it was rude to wake a sleeping angel.
“She has those dogs wrapped around her finger,” said Brooke, who according to CNN was “in a fog” for the whole four hours it took to rescue the girl on a 60°F night, who had wandered off 3 miles into the woods.
SHARE These Two Dutiful Canines And This Great Story With Your Friends…
Dogs can be angels. And this beautiful child was as safe as can be. The one dog stayed with her while the other dog sought to make it’s presence known to whomever the rescuers would be.