Missing Idaho Dog Takes up Herding Sheep

Tilly relied on instinct.  The dog is back home in North Idaho after a traffic accident.  Spooked after her family was involved in the crash, Tilly took off and running.  She didn’t appear physically harmed.  Her owners and several passersby searched for the animal.  The crash happened on Highway 41 near Rathdrum.  It was midday Sunday.

Eventually, brokenhearted, the family went home to Hayden without Tilly.

A couple of sad days passed.  Then another family thought something looked strange with one of their own dogs.  They looked out the window and thought the fur had darkened.  The furry canine was herding their sheep.  It’s when they realized it wasn’t their dog!

At the very same time, a deputy was passing by.  He was flagged down.  He had heard about Tilly going missing.  Sure enough, she was hard at work on a new job.  She got an escort home.

Linda Oswald, one of Tilly’s owners, posted the story on Facebook.  You can see the post at the top of this page.

I’ve heard the stories about dogs getting lost and then traveling thousands of miles to get home.  Tilly apparently wasn’t in much of a hurry.  She saw sheep, she took up the challenge.

A fellow here at the office told me a story about a year ago.  When he was a boy, his family lived on a ranch in New Mexico.  Eventually, they moved into a house in town and commuted to the ranch, where the family cat had been left behind.  One day, after school, he looked out a window at the new house.  The cat was coming up the sidewalk.

We can’t get enough of these kinds of animal stories.