The grief of losing someone is unbearable. We struggle to come to terms with it and often never quite find a way to ease the pain left behind.

Imagine if you’re a dog, though, a loved pet, who suddenly lost an owner to death. There is no real way to explain the absence, so the hole left is likely much greater.

So, when Riley, a Shetland sheepdog, first went missing, his owner Mike Krugman was worried, but thought the dog had just gone looking for Mike’s wife, Pam, who had died a few months prior. The dog, Mike said, had taken the loss the hardest, hiding behind their bed.

“I thought, ‘Maybe Riley has gone looking for Pam,’” Mike said. 

“Riley would sleep on her pillow every night,” he said. 

Then when Pam passed away, he hid behind the bed for several days. You could tell he really missed her.”

Mike kept looking for Riley, along with help from a Colorado pet rescue group. They put up ‘missing’ posters and searched everywhere, but they couldn’t find the dog.

Mike said he just couldn’t give up hope they would find him. “I left his food bowl out for him,” he said.

Zach Hackett takes a picture of him and Riley before crossing the river with the dog. Photo courtesy of Hackett

About 5 weeks later,  Zach Hackett had decided to take a hike in the mountains. He said he wanted to explore the area that he and his girlfriend had just moved to a few months prior.

But, he never expected to hear a yip from a dog while he was nearly 12,000 feet up in elevation.

“I was a little startled, because dogs shouldn’t be up there so high,” he said.

But there he was, a wet shivering dog, hiding behind some fallen trees.

“’Hey buddy,’” Zach said he told the dog. “’Hey, come here — do you want a treat? You want a cookie? Come here, buddy.’”

But when he got a bit closer to the dog, Zach said he knew the dog wasn’t able to move on his own, he was too weak. It was only 45 degrees outside, with temps dropping below freezing at night, and Zach said the dog looked like he would be dead soon if he didn’t get help.

“I believe what I’d heard was his last cry for help, and that if I hadn’t come along, he would have died there,” Zach said.

I knew I was going to have to carry him down the mountain.”

So he wrapped Riley up in a windbreaker he had in his bag and carried him down the mountain like he was a baby.

Riley gets a bath after his rescue. Photo courtesy of Zach Hackett

“It’s such a mystery how he survived — he was in really poor shape,” he said. “All the way down, I held him to my chest and told him, ‘We’re almost there, buddy — we’re going to get you home tonight. You’re not going to die on this mountain.’”

Down the mountain for more than two hours, and across the knee-deep water of a river, Zach said cradled the dog, making sure he stayed as warm as possible.

Finally, the pair made it back to Zach’s apartment where he and his girlfriend gave the dog a warm bath, some water and tried to feed him.

“We gave him small amounts of water, and I made him some scrambled eggs, but he didn’t want them,” he said.

The following morning, the couple drove Riley to the shelter.

“People at the shelter were shocked when they checked the Summit Lost Pet Rescue records and learned Riley had been gone for five weeks and one day,” Zach said.

For Mike, the emotions hit hard when he answered the phone that day.

Mike Krugman holds Riley after he was rescued. Photo courtesy of Krugman

“I got this call from the shelter, and they said a good Samaritan had brought Riley in,” he said. “Of course, I cried. I’m not a real spiritual person, but somebody had to have been looking out for that dog, maybe my wife.”

Riley is now gaining back the more than 12 pounds he lost, and has his appetite back, Mike said. 

“I’m just so thankful for what he did and for the efforts of all the people who searched for Riley,” he said.

“He is also now the proud owner of a GPS tracking collar,” he noted. “This will never happen to Riley again.”

Watch below for a closer look at how this amazing dog made his way back home!

Sources: Upworthy | Washington Post