Barley the dog travels from U.S. to the Okanagan

A dog is back home safe after running away, having embarked on a 10-day long journey traveling from Washington state to Canada on foot.

Just 30 minutes after being adopted by his new owners, Barley ran away from his home in Tonasket, Wash., embarking on a 10-day, over 100-kilometre-long journey from Tonasket crossing the border to Penticton.

“That is an incredible distance to travel. He’s lucky he didn’t get clipped or have something more dangerous happen to him,” said Jacenda Byer, Petra’s Pawdicures owner, who assisted with the rescue.

Following multiple sightings on social media, Rita Kessell, a dog rescuer based in the U.S., made contact with Barley during his trip to Canada, but she came up short.

“That dog, the night before he moved into Canada, he absolutely would not go in the trap, and I was using a different trap from the local sheriff’s department; it was a longer trap. He still would not go in it,” said Kessell.

Once Barley made it into Canada, he was spotted in Penticton’s Sage Mesa area.

“I did see a post it was 15 or 20 minutes old that he was right near me I happened to be near there,” said Darren Sweet, who assisted with the rescue.

Byer, who is from Kelowna, was called in to help trap Barley, who used her dog Petra to lure him in.

“We let Petra go back and forth on the side of me with my friend, and he started to relax. He saw she was happy,” said Byer.

Barley’s fears eased and Byer finally got ahold of him.

“We finally got him on (a) lead. We picked ticks off him, I rubbed his belly — he’s the most gentle boy,” said Byer.

Barley was treated for exhaustion and some leg pain, and he has since been picked up by his owners. They told Global News he’s doing well back home in Tonasket.