B.C. man reunited with dogs after hours-long search for missing pets

It was a happy — albeit muddy — reunion on Saturday between a British Columbia resident and his lost dog.

Brian Rehwald left Nelson, B.C., earlier this week to pick up two dogs in Kelowna that he had purchased online. The transaction with the Ontario-based breeder went smoothly, and he expected it would be the same when it came to transferring the pups to his truck.

Instead, after taking them out of their crates at Kelowna International Airport on Wednesday at 11:40 a.m., and taking the dogs for a short walk, things quickly went wrong.

“They were good but nervous,” recalled Rehwald of Flurry and Sparkle, who are sisters. “I picked up Sparkle first and put her in the back seat of my truck. Then I turned to put Flurry in and when I went to reach for Flurry, a jet landed and hit the back thrusters. It was really loud, and I guess between that and the new situation, she bolted away from the vehicle.”

“She reached the end of her leash, spun and slipped her collar off her head,” he added.

Rehwald said that while Sparkle dashed away, Flurry leapt out of the truck and also ran off.

What followed were hours of searching.

“Lots of people were trying to help me catch them, but the more people tried to catch them, the more scared they got,” said Rehwald.

Rehwald said Sparkle crossed nearby Highway 97 — with vehicles swerving and screeching to a halt — and started running into nearby orchards, while Flurry stayed on the airport side of the highway and disappeared into a thicket of bushes near the parking lot.

Sparkle was found later on Wednesday, but only after she had been hit by a northbound 18-wheeler, suffering a fractured pelvis. A southbound vehicle stopped and picked up the dog, taking her to a nearby animal clinic, where she was eventually reunited with Rehwald. Sparkle is expected to undergo surgery on Monday.

Flurry wasn’t located until Saturday and only after she got trapped in a swamp of sorts — this was after escaping capture once and making trips through a local car wash, an Esso gas station, a Tim Hortons parking lot, nearby bush, the Okanagan Rail Trail and a golf course.

Rehwald said a volunteer helper saw Flurry running along the side of a fairway, heading south. Eventually, the dog was found in a bullrush swamp, up to her neck in muddy water.

Two volunteers — one walking, the other on a boat — went out into the armpit-deep swamp and rescued her. Notably, one of Flurry’s rescuers was her original owner, Trevor Lillie, who was given a free flight from WestJet to help rescue the dog.

“The biggest take-home message for me was all the community support, everybody helping out,” said Rehwald. “People just stepping up randomly, showing up and putting themselves out there in a big way.”