Posted on 07/02/2007 6:24:37 AM PDT by DeFault User
Bark helps save lost toddler
Toddler Connor Cummings wandered away from his rural home Friday night, gone suddenly into the surrounding woods.
More than 300 people on foot, all-terrain vehicles and in helicopters scoured the dense brush for two miles around the Granville County house, about 50 miles north of Raleigh. But hearts grew heavier as night fell, thunderstorms raged and another day passed.
It was about 8:30 p.m. Saturday when family friend Steve Brewer, picking through the forest on horseback after more than 24 hours in search, heard a bark.
"It's just like one of those Lassie stories," he said.
He had heard Sandy, 23-month-old Connor's dog. Brewer rode into a power-line clearing and saw Connor sitting on a stump, alert, calm and with Sandy perched beside him.
"He had a lot of ticks on him and his diaper was full, but he was feeling fine," Brewer said of Connor.
"She's pretty much a baby sitter for him," Connor's mother Teresa Cummings said of the golden retriever, who has been Connor's companion since he was born.
A medical check-up found no problems with Connor except for scrapes and tick bites, his mother said. An hour after he was found Saturday night, Connor was sitting in his kitchen, surrounded by his family, eating an orange frozen pop and drinking from a sippy cup. "We're very, very thankful."
Sandy, who Brewer said took off toward home as Brewer approached Connor, was rewarded with three hamburgers and three pieces of chicken.
The toddler was believed to have wandered away about 6:30 p.m. Friday from his parents' home on Jack Adcock Road near Oxford. He was last seen by his mother as she fed the family's many dogs at the expansive kennel behind their white, two-story house with a wide front porch and an inflatable baby pool in the backyard.
After a short time, she realized he was missing, along with Sandy. The mother searched on her own for about two hours before calling the Granville County Sheriff's Office as the sun set. Search crews combed the woods near the home all night.
On Saturday morning, six specially trained rescue teams with dogs were on the scene, and two helicopters were overhead. The Civil Air Patrol put several single-engine planes in the air.
"It's extremely wooded and rugged," said Det. Jason Tingen of the Oxford Police Department.
The Cummings were told that, years from now, Connor won't remember anything about being lost in the woods.
"We'll make copies of all the newspaper articles and say, look what you did," Cummings said. "Thanks a lot."
Some extra treats and one of those gigantic meaty bones for Sandy.
Man’s best friend indeed.
No doubt, I’d get Sandy 10 of them (not all at once).
wendy ping! ;)
what a great dog!
Scary stuff.
Great story! Doggie ping?
That's pretty standard for toddlers here in Western Kentuckiana.
very scary! thank goodness for toddler’s best friend :)
Back in the day, I left the Phoenix Hill Tavern a number of times in the same condition...
But that's a low price to pay for having the toddler returned safely.
Golden may be the very best dog for kids. Lab would be chasing squirrels instead of watching the kid.
Dogs rule.
Awesome dog!!!!! God’s little angels....
Treat your best friend, and most faithful companion right, and you’ll always get home. ;)
It’s good Sandy isn’t a pit bull, or they’d have found toddlerburger.
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