At first, it seemed like it was going to be one of those calls that police officers dread.
“I was really worried at the start of the call, just because it’s nighttime and the area is somewhat wooded,” Deputy Devon Miller said in a video shared on the OkaloosaSheriff YouTube channel about the call for a missing elderly woman in Destin, Florida.
The woman’s husband had called the sheriff’s office the night of Sept. 25 to report that she had gone missing while walking the dog, according to CBS News.
“She never takes more than 10 or 15 minutes… it’s almost an hour — it’s over an hour now,” the worried man told the deputy.
The deputy asked the breed of dog, but the man didn’t know. “Just a 100-pound dog,” he told her.
The bodycam then showed Miller driving through the neighborhood when she gave a little gasp. “There’s the dog!” she said as she pulled over.
“Hi, Baby, where’s your mama?” she said to the big yellow dog that came wagging up to her, dragging a leash.
Miller grabbed the leash and let the dog lead her.
Soon, the deputy radioed to the dispatcher that she’d located the missing woman.
She also requested an ambulance. “She’s laying here on the sidewalk, alert and conscious, but she may have injured herself,” Miller reported.
The woman sounded amazed that her canine friend had summoned help.
“The dog brought you?” she asked, and Miller confirmed.
“Oh, sweetheart!” she said to Eeyore.
“I’m not even his owner. I’m his grandmother,” she explained to Miller.
“Aw, Eeyore, you’re a good boy! Grandma loves you,” she told the big dog.
Later, the sheriff’s office posted an interview with Miller talking about the encounter.
She recalled getting “really excited” when she spotted Eeyore.
“I was like, ‘Maybe, you know, he can lead me to her.’ I’ve seen movies where it happens, so I was hoping that maybe, you know, he could do that for me.”
She said she felt “major relief” when she spotted the woman.
“I was glad to hear her voice, so I knew that she was alert and conscious, that she was okay,” Miller said.
The deputy gave full credit for the rescue to Eeyore.
“Eeyore is the main hero here,” Miller said. “He deserves lots of belly rubs. He deserves a steak dinner. That dog did everything… He’s the true hero.”
“The second I grabbed the leash, he just — you can’t really tell in my body cam video, but he practically dragged me to her.”
The story of the rescue has been widely covered in the media, which Miller said was a little overwhelming.
“I woke up yesterday to tons of texts and screen captures of my body camera on my face, and it was definitely interesting,” she said.
Miller said she thinks the encounter resonated with many people because “I think, with everything going on in the world, people like to see, you know, these sweet, happy stories. Anything where the dog or an animal is involved. And I think people like that.
“It’s a feel-good story. You know — the dog saves the day. And I think that’s what people need right now.”
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