Abby Connolly
For two weeks, people set out on foot, searching the open terrain and leaving food and objects covered in Samantha’s scent out near the accident site in hopes of luring Bentley to them. Local newspapers wrote articles about Bentley to spread the word, and posts were put up online.
Finally, 17 days after the accident, a Colorado man identified Bentley near the Jeep trail.
“Bentley was, what the man thought, hunting rock mice!” wrote Samantha on her blog.
“Can you believe that? My ‘designer dog’ was in full-blown survival mode. It’s crazy to think that some of the animals in our homes, the ones we consider ‘family,’ have the instincts to survive in the wild if the need should arise.”
A few days later, Samantha, still emotionally and physically healing from her accident, admirably climbed the very mountain that brought so much tragedy into her life. After climbing an elevation of 11,000 feet, she saw her puppy looking back at her.
Samantha began recording Bentley very slowly and timidly approaching her after not seeing her since the accident 19 days prior.
In her videos and blog posts, Samantha notes that she was careful not to run towards Bentley or assume he’d go right to her, as she was warned he would likely be skittish, scared, and untrusting after everything he had been through.
But finally, after a few minutes of Samantha sitting patiently on the mountain, softly calling Bentley’s name, the precious pup walked over to her and let her embrace him.
“He’s safe, and he’s coming home, and I just am so grateful,” says a teary-eyed Samantha in her viral video.
“Thank you, everybody. Seriously, thank you so much.”
Bentley has been home safe with Samantha ever since, and she’s referred to their reunion as her “miracle on the mountain.”
