It was a happy ending Sunday night as a dog found lost on the Coquihalla highway was reunited with his owner.
Archer, a black mastiff-cross, was found sitting cold and alone atop a snow bank near the Coquihalla summit on Friday by a road crew with VSA Highway Maintenance.
Carlie Holman, one of the workers that found Archer and who cared for him over the weekend, met up with Archer’s owner Tony Bogale, a trucker from Alberta, for the emotional reunion which was captured on video.
Bogale can be seen getting out of his rig, squatting down, and calling “Archer” to the dog.
The pup runs to him, wagging his tail before the driver stands up and says “thank you” to Holman.
WATCH: Dog found of the Coquihalla Highway gets happy ending
The pair then embraces in a hug. Archer, not to be outdone, hops up on his hind legs to join in a three-way cuddle.
“It was quite the reunion, it was definitely tear-jerking for sure. Lots of kissing and hugging,” said Holman.
Holman said Archer’s owner reached out to her over Facebook on Sunday after seeing news stories and social media about the rescued 10-month-old pup.
WATCH: Dog found on the Coquihalla Highway reunited with his owner
He said Archer ran off on Tuesday after being struck by another truck in the Zopkios brake check around 8 p.m.
He searched for the dog for several hours and even returned on Wednesday before heading home to Alberta fearing he’d lost his dog forever.
Then the VSA crew stepped in.
VSA road foreman Ron Hagen said a plow driver spotted Archer atop a steep snow bank on Friday and called it in.
READ MORE: ‘Still good people out there’: Vancouver man tails dog thief to rescue stolen pup
Both Hagen and Holman drove down to see what was going on.
“The bank was so steep we had to get on the tailgate of the truck to get up on the bank,” Hagen said.
“This guy, he’s sitting there like he’s waiting for someone to come and get him. I got up to him and he growled a little bit.”
Not knowing if the 100-pound mastiff was friendly or not, Hagen went to get some gloves. But while he was gone, Holman managed to make a connection.
WATCH: Puppies stranded for days on a rural Mission cliff are finally rescued
“The tail started going, and he almost licked her to death to start with,” said Hagen.
The pair coaxed Archer down and into their truck, before taking him back to the VSA shop, where they fed him and gave him water and posted about the rescue on Facebook.
Holman then brought the dog home to care for him over the weekend while they searched for his owner.
READ MORE: Pair of puppies rescued after four days atop Fraser Valley cliff in Mission
Finally, the connection came through — with Archer’s owner and the dog seeing each other for the first time in nearly a week by video chat.
“I showed the phone to Archer and they were talking to each other,” said Holman.
“Well not talking, obviously, the dog wasn’t — but that’s how they reunited, over the phone. And he was crying, and it was pretty amazing.”
Then Monday, the reunion — with Holman and her kids saying a sad goodbye to Archer, and waving him off as he and his owner got back on the long road home.
— With files from Kristen Robinson
Comments