Louie is back home and he’s on the mend.
Amanda McGregor’s chocolate lab is recovering from a mountain adventure last week that brought together dozens of people in the local hiking community.
After being injured about nine-kilometres up a remote hike in the Chilliwack River Valley, a plea for help on a hiking Facebook group led to a group heading up to rescue the five-year-old dog.
ORIGINAL STORY: Online hiking club comes together to rescue injured dog near Chilliwack Lake
It began when McGregor’s stepdaughter Janessa took Louie for an overnight trek to Radium Lake, a nine-kilometre hike starting from a trailhead near Chilliwack Lake.
The dog got injured and Janessa was unable to carry the 90-pound dog out so she spent a second night up there.
Search-and-rescue couldn’t help since no humans were threatened.
So Amanda and her husband John decided to try to hike in and help carry the dog out, but they couldn’t make it.
Then Amanda joined the Chilliwack BC Hiking Club on Facebook, put out a plea and the response was overwhelming.
A core group eventually formed, Iain Harvey, Toby Hyde, Cody Hamilton, Isaak Hazelton, Matt Horin and Charlene Howard.
They got in there with a donated stretcher and carried Louie out.
“They are phenomenal,” Amanda said of the group that went up to rescue Louie. “That whole Chilliwack Hiking Club, they are amazing people.”
Amanda and John then got Louie to the Animal Emergency Clinic of the Fraser Valley in Langley. The dog was seriously injured and had to spend four nights at the clinic. The first night at the clinic cost $2,000 and the second night $1,500 more. Amanda said the stay Friday night was another $1,500 and then he spent one more night on Saturday.
“Honestly I don’t want to give up on my dog,” she said on Friday.
But on Sunday they were able to take Louie home to begin his recovery.
Another of the rescuers, Cody Hamilton, helped Amanda out by setting up a GoFundMe page called “Louie’s recovery fund.” By Friday at 2:45 the page had raised $545 of a $4,000 goal, and by Monday it has surpassed the goal.
Amanda said the dollar figure wasn’t enough to cover all the bills, but with people giving so much she certainly couldn’t ask for more now.
“He is home,” she said Monday. “He has a long way to go but we will get him there.”
In the end, Amanda is emotional and so thankful to the local hiking community the way they came together for the rescue.
“In this day and age, to know that humans are out there that do this. This is such a positive story about people.”
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