Penny the 'backcountry badass' labradoodle survived 9 days in the Washington wilderness after falling over a ridge
- A 20-pound labradoodle was on a hiking trip with her family when she fell over a ridge in northern Washington state.
- Rescue crews, a drone, and a psychic tried to figure out how to bring the labradoodle to safety, but Penny somehow made it back on her own, The Oregonian and KGW8 reported.
- The pup and her family were welcomed home to Portland with signs and celebration.
Penny, a three-year-old Australian labradoodle, was on a hiking trip near Mount Shuksan in Washington when she fell over a ridge.
After searching for hours on July 31, Penny's owner, Kim Spiro, and her friends assumed the small dog had died.
"She ran into some thick trees and just disappeared. I was holding her leash and jumped up. It was in 15 seconds she just disappeared," Spiro told KGW8. "I've never experienced trauma and shock before in my life, but I was in complete shock. I thought I was going to throw up. I couldn't believe it."
But the next day before she left the mountain, Spiro heard a faint barking from far off over a cliff and believed it might be Penny. She launched a serious rescue effort, she told The Oregonian.
Spiro and her friends enlisted the help of 12 volunteers from rescue groups, a drone operator, and even a psychic, but they had no luck.
It wasn't until nine days later when Spiro was back home in Portland, mourning the loss of Penny, when she got a call from a Seattle woman, Helaina Hurwitz, according to The Oregonian.
Hurwitz had been meeting ups with a group at Fisher Chimneys at Mount Suskan early Sunday morning when a dog, who was "shivering, whining, and lethargic" ran in front of their cars in the trailhead parking lot, The Oregonian reported.
Penny jumped into her car and Horowitz fed her some canned sardines before making the three-hour drive back home. When she called rangers, they knew that the dog she found belonged to Spiro and put them in touch.
"I cried, I laughed, at first I didn't believe her," Spiro told the Oregonian.
It turned out that Penny had made a 15-mile trek from the canyon where she fell to a parking lot. Spiro drove to Seattle and the pair were reunited.
When they arrived back in Portland, neighbors lined the streets with welcome home messages.
"It's like the most joyous homecoming in the world," Spiro told KGW8. "Everyone with handmade signs and posters, probably like 25 homes made signs welcoming her home."
Penny's vet determined that she had broken teeth and gashed the bottom of her chin during her journey.
"She's a little fluffy dog that we used to think was a West Hills prima donna but now we know she's a backcountry badass," Spiro told The Oregonian.