After jumping off a stalled boat in Lake Michigan, an Illinois dog’s family is happy to be reunited with their furry friend Monday after being found by campers in Michigan, NBC affiliate WPBN reports.
The dog, Rylee, a 10-month-old Blegian Malinois, and its owners Ed and Kristin Casas, were about six miles out from Frankfort on the lake Sunday morning, vacationing in Michigan.
Ed needed Kristin’s help to figure out their electrical trouble over the phone with their mechanic.
“In retrospect, I remember her coming out here to see where I was going,” Kristin told WPBN. “My poor assumption was that she would go back into the cabin with her dad.”
“We assumed she went overboard,” Ed said, who added that he made a “dog overboard call,” over the radio.
Fisherman and the Coast Guard helped search for Rylee but to no avail.
One of the fishermen’s wife, Lynn Fiedor, runs Lost Dog Search Team, and uses social media to share information about missing and lost dogs in the area.
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Fiedor said after she posted information about Rylee to Facebook, more than 20,000 people saw it, instilling her with a sense of optimism.
On Monday morning, commenters said the dog was spotted near the Platte River Campground, so the Casas’ headed over and found her within 15 minutes, Ed said.
Rylee possibly swam close to six miles and traveled more than 12 miles on land, WPBN reported.
The Casas’ say they owe the safe return of their pup to Fiedor.
"We have a happy ending," Fiedor told WPBN. "And it's the reason we do what we do."
