Dog walker Annette Poitras has been reunited with the dogs she credits with helping her survive after she spent almost 48 hours stranded in Coquitlam’s backcountry back in November.
On Sunday, Poitras reunited with the dogs — a collie named Chloe, a boxer named Roxy and a puggle named Bubba– at the Westwood Plateau Golf Club as part of a ceremony to honour search-and-rescue crews and the dogs who helped keep Poitras alive.
Globalnews.ca coverage of the search for Annette Poitras
Back in November, Annette’s husband Marcel told Global News that the dogs helped his wife survive.
“One of them was cuddling [her] and one of them was on guard and the other one was looking for food,” he said.
The dogs didn’t leave her side, even though one of them initially wandered off when Poitras fell and hurt herself.
Poitras said Sunday that the two harrowing days she spent on Burke Mountain have given her a new perspective on life.
“I’ve changed,” she said. “I really appreciate life.”
The emotional reunion is part of a campaign to help Coquitlam Search and Rescue buy vitally important equipment.
“Search and rescue are very important,” Poitras said. “If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be standing here because it would have taken me a very long time to get out of there.”
The fundraising campaign will run through February.
— With files from Amy Judd