Community effort brings missing blind dog home for Christmas

Source: Fairbanks News-Miner

McKenzie Grapengeter was resigned to the fact that her family would never see their blind 8-year-old dog, Abby, again.

Abby, who they raised up from an animal shelter puppy, usually spent afternoons sniffing around their five-acre lot off 14-mile Chena Hot Springs Road, but went missing on Dec. 13 during the worst part of the recent snow storms.

The family searched and searched the neighborhood, but as hours turned to days and temperatures plummeted to a frigid 40 below zero, Grapengeter wasn’t so sure they’d find the short-haired brown-and-white mixed breed dog who began bumping into household fixtures a few years ago when she went blind.

But then, on Sunday, she got a call.

Abby had been found. A week after she had gone missing, during nights where the mercury dipped well below minus 40, she had been found more than 10 miles away by trails.

“It’s a miracle, there’s no other words to describe it,” she said, emotion choking her voice and tears coming to her eyes. “We never expected to have her to be returned safe and alive. She’s blind. It’s a miracle. It’s amazing.” . . .

Read more: http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/21231391/article-Community-effort-brings-missing-blind-dog-home-for-Christmas?instance=home_news_window_left_top_1

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Merry Christmas.