Sable is home, and her owner will never know what happened to her 1 1/2-year Belgian Malinois mix during the eight days the dog survived in Colorado’s high country with a broken leg.
But 11-year-old Brenna Morgan of Golden can live without the details – so long as her buddy is back.
“I cried when we lost her, and I cried when we got her back,” Brenna said.
A caring network of people brought Sable home and gave her medical care. Now Sable is recuperating on chicken broth and kibble, her left hind leg laced with stitches on a field of shaved skin.
Sable’s saga began when she jumped or fell out of the family’s pickup on U.S. 285 between Grant and Shawnee on May 25 during a camping trip.
Brenna and her parents, R.J. and Christine Schrader, searched along the road. Deputies and animal-control officers joined in.
But the small fawn-colored dog, a Christmas gift to Brenna, had vanished.
The situation wasn’t looking good. Chilly, wet weather settled in. Days crawled by without a sign.
“This little girl’s tears were in my brain,” said animal-control officer Terri Remenius, who prowled area roads and knocked on cabin doors looking for Sable.
Thinking the dog was gone for good, Remenius was ready to buy Brenna a border collie puppy from someone she knew.
On June 2, a dispatcher radioed that a dog had been found along the highway, and Deputy Jeff DeBerry recalled Brenna’s tear-streaked face when the family reported Sable missing.
He raced to the Bailey Pet Clinic, where the dog was wolfing down food.
Veterinarian tech Stacy Raid scanned the dog, finding a microchip.
“That gave me the 800 number for the pet-retrieval folks, and I got the number of the owners,” DeBerry said.
“I was real happy,” Brenna said. “Sable is real friendly. She sleeps with me and curls up like a Cinnabon. We’re a lot alike.”
Sable still faced surgery. Christine Schrader said she called their vet, who doesn’t do major operations. Schrader called other animal hospitals, who turned her down since she and her husband just started new jobs and didn’t have the down payment.
Hermosa Veterinary Clinic on Federal Boulevard said it would do the surgery for a little over $500, and the Evergreen Animal Protection League provided the money, asking to be repaid later.
