Shadow had a bad day last week. A tornado sucked the 6-month-old Shar-Pei-Chow mix right out of his home, and then he went AWOL for a few days.
His owners were able to scramble to the safety of their basement with their other dog before the tornado severely damaged their house. After days of searching, sign posting, and internet hunting, the heartbroken family came to the sad conclusion that Shadow had perished.
But on Saturday, the family learned that while Shadow had gone with the wind, he miraculously was not a goner.
A woman who heard barking and whimpering under the collapsed roof of a nearby house, in Monson, Mass., frantically waved down a state trooper who was patrolling the area.
“You could see the dog had buried itself way in the debris under the roof,” Trooper Brian Pearl told the Boston Globe. “He clearly didn’t want to come out. He was petrified.”
If a powerful twister like the ones that wrecked homes in central and western Massachusetts sucked you out of your home, you might not want to come out and check how the weather is doing either. Food couldn’t lure out the petrified pup, so Pearl crawled under the roof, through dangerous debris, and got him out with a pole with a loop at the end. It wasn’t easy. He says Shadow did not want to be caught.
But once free, Shadow went from terrified to thrilled.
“He was wagging his tail like crazy,” Pearl told the Globe. “Once he came out, he was licking my hand … he was laughing like crazy.”
The dog was laughing like crazy… Love it! Cool Trooper! (The fact that he called Shadow a “he” instead of an “it” is refreshing in and of itself.)
Shadow’s owners were just as thrilled to be reunited with their pup. It’s all in a day’s work for Pearl.
“That’s part of what we’re doing out here, helping out the residents,” Pearl said. “Even something simple like that, it made my day, and it made their day.” (Note to Mass. State Trooper top brass: Give this guy a raise!)
