Meet Amber, a five-year-old retriever who’s had a ruff start to life, having resided in a Qatari shelter after being picked up as a street puppy. But earlier this year Amber moved to the UK through KS Angels Rescue, a small charity run by husband and wife Sam Collins and Kelly Parker, “trying to make a difference one dog at a time.” Amber was quickly placed in a loving foster home… where she spent one night before bolting on April 25, despite the 8-foot-high fence. What followed was 63 sightings by anxious humans of Amber in the wild as they tried to safely corral her back. The floof trekked across a national park until she hit the coast, then swam a mile to an island. After four days of island living, Amber began a swim back to shore, when the crew of a ferry saw her struggling and pulled her aboard. All in all, her journey covered 100 miles over 36 days. What an adventure!
She covered a lot of terrain: Amber walked in a south-westerly direction across the forest to the coast and ended up on Sandbanks in Poole, where she then doggy-paddled for a mile across Poole Harbour to reach Brownsea Island. A resident on the sparsely populated island put out food every night after spotting the stray. After four days she attempted to swim back to the mainland and was seen by the crew of a passing ferry who thought she was a seal. Crew mate Ethan Grant said: “I then realised it was a dog and thought ‘what’s that doing out there?’ You could see she was struggling so we thought we need to get her out otherwise she wouldn’t have made it.”
Amber’s ‘wild mindset’ made the recovery a challenge: Parker said the dog had entered a “wild mindset” until Saturday’s rescue. “We had a lot of well-meaning people and they really did try to help,” she said. “Unfortunately with a dog that is scared and has entered that wild mindset, with any people, she would have run.” Every time the wanderer was spotted, she had covered another five or six miles (8km/9.6km), said Parker. “It’s been frustrating, we’ve felt like we were always behind her. It’s definitely been an experience I would rather not have again — but a happy ending.”
Needing more time to bond: Parker said she hoped adventurous Amber would have a “calmer, more stable spirit” in future. Collins said Amber had not had enough time to form bonds, and had bolted every time someone tried to help. “She was absolutely all over the place, she kept returning to where she went missing from and was moving in bigger and bigger circles,” he said.
She did one mile of swimming! “But then we had no sightings for a week before I got a call that she was on a boat. We know she entered the water at Sandbanks as we were sent a photo of her there. It is about a mile of swimming, which is just incredible. “The boat crew spotted her struggling with the tide, she wasn’t going to make the swim back so they turned the boat around. She hooked her paws on to the ladder and one of the lads jumped into the water and helped her out.”
Ferrymen for the win! Though I hope Amber gave them at least a little sass for mistaking her for a seal, lol. As for Amber’s wandering tail, I can’t completely blame her; poor girl winds up in a new, cold country without any idea what’s going on! The good news is, after her little excursion, Amber was cleared for good health by a vet, save for being a tad underweight. So before she gets placed in a new home, she’s on a strict diet of being given more meals (hey, that’d be the way to keep me homeward bound as well). And further good news: that resident of Brownsea Island who put food out for Amber has reached out to KS Angels about adopting the intrepid explorer. Meanwhile, for those keeping count at home, Amber marks the third runaway hound we’ve covered this year, joining an international crew of Scrim, the terrier of New Orleans (on the lam 10 months over two escapes), and miniature dachshund Valerie, who ran amok for a whopping 529 days on Australia’s Kangaroo Island. At what point do we start taking the wave of canines fleeing as a damning commentary on humanity?
What a lovely story!
Aw. Hope Amber lands well in her new home and takes a rest from the running. There used to be that person from the uk that posted about Sophie from Romania. Sophie didn’t run though, just hid instead.
I needed this ending. Amber.🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲
Oh my goodness! Of course a retriever went swimming! Goof!
I’m always scared to read these kind of stories (too many Lassie shows in my youth), but this one had it all – turning wild, swimming a mile!!, caring strangers leaving food out. Oh my! I love your new anthology. 🙂
I definitely see and feel personally how she ran amok. She was totally overwhelmed and fled out of panic and hysteria. I felt that way this week, to be frank, though Amber is far more athletic than I am.
Poor thing looks exhausted. I’d like to see someone write a children’s book about her. Hers was a reaction to trauma and many kids, unfortunately, have trauma in their lives.
Thank goodness for the happy ending! That’s my kind of adventurer, though! She just needs to remember to take her human with her next time.