Dog swept off sailboat found alive on remote island four months later

[WI_DEM]

SYDNEY - A pet dog swept off a sailboat in choppy seas off Australia was found alive four months later on a remote island - and returned to her family, who'd thought she was dead.

The 4-year-old blue heeler, named Sophie Tucker, was captured by rangers last week on St. Bees Island in northern Queensland state, nearly 6 miles (10 kilometers) from where she was washed off the sailboat in November, owner Jan Griffith said.

Rangers initially thought they'd captured a wild dog, but friends who heard about the canine contacted Griffith and suggested it might be Sophie.

Griffith and her husband met the rangers' boat as it arrived back on the mainland last Tuesday and were shocked to find their long-lost pet on board.

"We called the dog and she started whimpering and banging the cage and they let her out and she just about flattened us," Griffith said Monday. "She wriggled around like a mad thing."

The dog had been spotted by several people on both St. Bees and nearby Keswick Island, leading Griffith to believe she swam back and forth between the two, which are separated by a narrow channel.

Queensland wildlife official Steve Fisher told Monday's Daily Mercury newspaper that three rangers trapped Sophie in a cage, using dog food as bait.

"The day Sophie was trapped she was nervous because she'd been separated from human contact," Fisher said. "But after a while she settled down."

http://my.earthlink.net/article/str?guid=20090407/49dacfc0_3ca6_1552620090407-1545454348

[QueenOfCalifornia]

1. Oooooo!

Good story - I love a happy ending -- I see a Disney movie someplace though..... :(

[Kolesar]

2. Sophie appeared to have survived by eating goats

Totally bitchin' dog!

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Sophie is a chuchacabra! nt

[Tansy_Gold]

13. It's chupacabra. n/t

[TankLV]

23. I thought it was copa cabana...

or is it coco channel...

what - it's a an easy MISTAKE!!!

[Rebubula]

3. Nice

That is an awesome story.

I cannot imagine the horror and pain you would go through; seeing your loved one swept out to see.


Good Dog....

[panader0]

4. Cool story

Reminds me of a child's book I had 50 years ago.

[Tansy_Gold]

5. survivors

Many years ago I picked up a little blue heeler puppy I found wandering in the middle of the road out in the desert. He looked weak so I took him to the vet to have him checked out. The vet said he was malnourished and dehydrated and probably wouldn't survive the night, but if I wanted to try to bring him back, well, blue heelers are tough and he might make it.

He thrived. He got bitten by a black widow and survived. He got parvo (even with vaccinations!) and survived. I had him for 13 absolutely wonderful years.

I can't bear to read the sad animal stories on DU but this one was good.

Way to go Sophie Tucker!

[DeschutesRiver]

9. Thanks for sharing that: about your blue heeler - some dogs get 9 lives, like a cat:)

Had a once in a lifetime girl dog who just passed away last year at age 13 also. Also survived a very bad bout of parvo as a puppy after we got her home, and she'd also been vaccinated (spent 2 touch and go weeks at the vet before coming home to live a wonderful wonderful 13 more years with me as the dog I could talk to without using words:). Her litter mate brother had parvo too, but was sick for only 2 days (lucky boy) and is still with us at 14 and is dh's closest dog buddy ever. My girl dog also survived a cancerous mast cell tumor removal at age 10, and various close calls just from loving to live large. She lived life full speed ahead happy happy joy joy right up until the week before she died - I'd like to pass out of this world like that too.

I just wanted to say I am glad you had a survivor too, and got to spend those wonderful years with a great dog - I felt that way about my girl (GSP) and similarly, can't read sad animal stories anywhere, but this one about Island Dog was made me tear up in a good way!

[Tansy_Gold]

12. special dogs

I still miss that one. Gone almost five years now and I still miss him. I have four now, none of them heelers, and I love 'em all to pieces, but he was special. And yes, we could converse without making a sound.

Funny story -- I'd been out of town and on my return my husband said he'd seen a movie on tv that he thought I'd like, "Last of the Dogmen." A few weeks later I happened to notice it was on again and I tuned it in even though it was in the middle. About eight seconds after I turned it on, the dog gets shot. Hubby wasn't home at the time, so I had no one to warn me about what happened to the dog, and I was FURIOUS that he would recommend something to me like that, especially since the dog was a heeler. I can't stand being told ahead of time how a movie ends, but I flat out refused to watch the rest of it without assurances that the dog came out okay.

[DeschutesRiver]

15. I had to read right through until the end, where you said the dog made it:)

When I see a movie go south like that, I am forever asking dh (who is usually watching these flicks for the 2nd or 3rd time) "does the dog make it? Any animals get killed?". Probably came from being a kid watching Bambi's mom die, and spending hours only to find that Old Yeller didn't make it - didn't like it then, still don't at age 51.

I too have had lots of dogs, not a bad one in the lot, loved them all. But just one reached this level; same with all the horses I have had over the years - just a single once in a lifetime horse, still here but aging now. I guess having this kind of bond is called "once in a lifetime" for good reason.

I have a stunningly kind, happy, affectionate wonderful rescue dog who came into our lives last year, after my girl dog passed who has helped a lot. But only now can I look at my old girl's photos without feeling the pain; think of her still every day. I was glad to see your post, because to some people, a dog is a dog is a dog, and it is hard for them to understand this kind of relationship. Guess we were both lucky to experience it at least the one time, a privilege apparently denied to many - take care:)

[Tansy_Gold]

16. Animal stories

yeah, you mentioned two movies that were traumatic for me as a child, just drove me crazy. And then there was the big-name one, something about "dances," that affected me just as strongly 30 or so years later. I still can't even listen to the music from that one.

If you get a chance, do watch "Last of the Dogmen." I did some googling on it yesterday and found that it got some pretty good reviews for a movie that got lousy distribution and no promo at all.

And yes, the dog comes out fine.

[DeschutesRiver]

21. I looked it up too, and if I have the right one, it is set in the Canadian Rockies

so there should be some pretty scenery too.

And yep, the Zip lives, so I will rent it next time I am in town - thanks:)

[Tansy_Gold]

27. Speaking of Deschutes and dogs ;-)

I picked up this little slab of Deschutes jasper about 20 years ago in Quartzsite, AZ. Some people can't see the coyote or the rose; some see both.

TG

[DeschutesRiver]

28. That is a cool piece of jaspar

I can easily make out the rose, but can't find the coyote:)

We moved here 10 years ago, and if you just drive through the area, it seems rather monotone with miles of the same juniper, ponderosa and sagebrush everywhere. But now having explored the ranch on foot extensively, I've found little pockets here and there with rocks of every color of the rainbow - one place has this shade of green rock, another has a different shade, another with blues or deep mustard yellow ones with marvelous veins of dusky rose, yellows running through light turquise stones, pink rocks of all things, and even petrified wood with crystalized veins of quartz that make them shine. One hillside I've nicknamed Jewel Hill, because when I first came across it, the sun just glinted off small rocks of multiple colors, of which more arise with every desert rainstorm. Quite extrordinary, actually and always unexpected against all the dull brown and green vegetation here.

Which is why I'm glad all my dogs have been adventurers, too, because it makes exploring fun!

DR

[DeschutesRiver]

22. I looked it up too, and if I have the right one, it is set in the Canadian Rockies

so there should be some pretty scenery too.

And yep, Zip lives, so I will rent it next time I am in town - thanks:)

[JeanGrey]

17. I HATED Marley and Me for that exact reason and I would

never have exposed a child to it.

[DeschutesRiver]

25. I haven't seen the movie Marley and Me, but

a couple of months after my girl passed, I was at the library and of all things, the featured book was Marley and Me, so I checked it out. It was the wrong time to have read it. I'd also bought a book called Merle's Door, about a guy who rescued a starving pup in the desert and was story of Merle's life and times. I got it because it was a story of a guy and his dog, who while they didn't do things at all like I do, had "the bond" and I thought it would help to know that I wasn't the first person to lose a most special dog.

I stuck with it until I leafed through to sneak a peak at the end, and saw that Merle was going to make his exit (after a long life) with a similar aspect to how my girl passed, and it was so upsetting to me that I laid it down and never picked it up again. Which now that I am reminded of that, I am going to donate that one to the library with some others.

[hfojvt]

24. you just reminded me of an episode of Friends

Phebe couldn't understand why people thought "Old Yeller" was a sad movie. It turns out her mother had always turned the movie off five minutes before it ended saying "and they lived happily ever after". Then she watched the whole thing and said "what kind of sick dog snuff film is this?"

[DeschutesRiver]

26. I think that is the best indication of how messed up Old Yeller was...

that a sitcom could reference it, and all of us are going "yeah, that damned Old Yeller movie with the BAD ending....".

They had to be marketing that thing for young people, I think - but what were they thinking?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Sophie was found with a tennis ball she'd named "Wilson." nt

[mrs_p]

19. lol

this would be my border collie - also named sophie!

[Bertha Venation]

7. I'm glad you posted this.

It gave me a teary smile.

[hlthe2b]

8. My parents used to make my sister come in and watch Sophie

Tucker on Ed Sullivan any time she was on. Neither of us had a clue who this woman was and why it was so important. Seems at least one Australian couple likewise found her (or at least her name) memorable. Good on ya, Sophie!

[WI_DEM]

14. She was the "last of the red hot mamas"

[nycusa15]

10. Amazing story

How cute is that? The owners must be besides themselves

[Duer 157099]

18. Awesome. But I wonder if it was 1973 for the dog? n/t

[rcrush]

20. did someone find a doggie chew toy named Wilson on the island?