A combination of luck and kindness brought an Alberta man’s best friend back to him.
Bernard Wikdahl was riding in his SUV with his dog Spike, a Dashchund-mix, when the vehicle was broadsided and rolled over east of Lethbridge on Tuesday.
It rolled several times before coming to a halt nearly 20 metres away. That’s when Wikdahl realized his loyal companion was missing.
“The first thing I did was ask, ‘where’s my dog’,” Wikdahl said.
“I wasn’t worried about myself, I was worried about the dog.”
Wikdahl looked for Spike for two days. He returned to the scene of the crash and planted a dog kennel with a blanket of his scent, believing it could bring Spike back.
However, there was no sign of the dog.
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Wikdahl started to think that Spike might never come home. Then he received the call he was waiting for.
A family with a plot of land just minutes away from the crash site spotted the dog playing in their yard.
“I was just kind of working outside and there he was playing with our dogs,” Chris Wild, the owner of the property, said.
“I was able to get a little closer, a little closer, and finally he let me grab him and we called the RCMP and let them know.”
Wild told Global News, he recognized Spike from the photos posted to social media.
“I can’t believe it,” Wikdahl said.
“I was almost giving up hope.”
The small dog survived nearly 48 hours in freezing Alberta temperatures.
Considering his size and the extreme weather, Wikdahl finds it hard to believe that his nightmare could have such a happy ending.
But Spike is finally home with the help of the police and the community’s generosity.