Missing Child Kept Safe by His Dog

A toddler that went missing on February 24, 2013, from Custer County South Dakota was found after about an hour of intense searching, not far from his house, having wandered out into sub-freezing temperatures wearing only light clothes.

The scared mother had called 911 as soon as she realized that her son, 3, was missing. Responders found the boy by tracking his footprints in the sparse snow. He was wandering with his brown pit bull. It is not clear whether the boy had followed the dog, or the dog had followed the boy. Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler later said jokingly “I think it was a joint venture.”

What was very clear, however, was that the dog was watching out for the boy. When rescuers approached the pair to take the boy home, the dog would not allow it. Wheeler said, “He was showing me that this was not my area,” adding, “I know that look.”

The boy’s father was called to take the dog home and the child was taken to a hospital, where doctors determined that he was curious and excited, but, thankfully, uninjured.

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