One of the most emotionally exhausting weeks of my life began in early January 2024. My husband and I received news that an immediate family member passed away unexpectedly; he was only 51. It was a Saturday morning when we began our journey from South Carolina to Georgia to be with family. The drive takes just under two hours. While grieving, late that afternoon, our little 16 lb Boston Terrier, Nali escaped my mother-in-law’s house in Dahlonega, GA.
We were there for the funeral and while everyone was gone from the house, a family friend that Nali had never met came into the house. Thinking it was us, she got very excited and approached the door then ran out. This is unlike her and we believe she got scared and excited then off she went into the woods!
My mother-in-law’s home is a cozy cabin in a small mountain neighborhood of about ten houses each with five-acre lots. It is quiet, serene, and mostly feels and looks like the middle of nowhere. It is only three miles from the Dahlonega square but still heavily wooded with numerous ridges, creeks, and hiding places. As we searched for Nali, we heard from friends and neighbors that she had been in the area within the hour of her escape. This included a sighting on a security camera from a family at the top of the mountain. We felt sure we would find her soon. 48 hours later about ten of us were still actively searching throughout the hills and nearby gulches. My son, daughter-in-law, and their dog Otis who is Nali’s BDF (Best Dog Friend), searched for miles. My husband, sister, and I searched our way into the cold night. As I opened the door to the cabin 5 heads whipped around and locked eyes with mine. As tears rolled down my cheeks, I could only nod my head no.
I was crushed as I had returned to the cabin empty-handed. My sister and I joined every social media group we could, my daughter-in-law researched and made a list of veterinarians in Dahlonega and all surrounding counties. We notified everyone in hopes someone saw Nali. I worked throughout the night monitoring social media. The outpouring of help from the neighbors and new social media friends was overwhelming. The Dahlonega community was helping in every way possible.
At daybreak Sunday morning I began my search at a neighboring property that was under construction. It had rained heavily the week before so there was a ton of mud. The cold temperatures overnight had frozen Nali’s paw prints in the mud and ice crystals had elevated over the mud. I could see the path she had taken down the hill from the house through the small horse training ring and down behind the neighbor’s house to the construction site. I could tell she had a joy run as I could see the zig-zag pattern of her happy walk through the muddy site, over the puddles and silt fencing. At one of the homes which had only the concrete walls I saw human footprints around hers and what seemed to be a scuffle. I took a video to show my sister who was up and, on her way, to join me. Did someone pick her up and take her or was it my imagination? A nearby house had a tiny barn, chicken coop, and a couple of dog houses; was she hiding in there?
It was a holiday weekend and therefore our resources to make posters and flyers to distribute were limited. We had a home printer and were able to make a handful of posters. Thankfully, by chance, I met a University of North Georgia senior named Parker and she offered to help. Parker went all out using her home printer and started making posters and signs to help find Nali. Needless to say, Parker was a huge help and so wonderfully gracious. In addition, the local funeral home printed 250 flyers for us that were distributed all over Dahlonega, and over two dozen posters were posted throughout the community, to no avail.
We put unlaundered clothing all around the house and in the woods surrounding in hopes it would help lead Nali back to my mother-in-law’s home. Monday morning came and went and we found no little brown and white Nali on the soft clothing outside the front door of the cabin. Sadly, we had to leave Dahlonega on Monday afternoon worrying about what had happened to her. My heart ached that our little helpless pup that was lost in the cold. The temperatures were dropping quickly to below freezing and the three of us came home absolutely heartbroken. Our family, friends, and neighbors in Dahlonega continued praying, working on social media, and driving around looking for Nali.
I refused to give up on her. I began dialogs with numerous people online and on social media. I reached out to a couple of professional pet rescue groups. One of the professional dog trackers’ names is Angie. She spent an hour on the phone with me analyzing our situation. She made me realize although it felt like we had covered a lot of ground searching, the reality was we had only searched less than a mile in one direction and about one-half mile (as the crow flies) in the other three directions. She said “Bostons are hearty dogs”, stay positive and think in terms of who has my dog and not, what happened to my dog”. This added to my determination to keep searching. Some truly awful scammers reached out with some convincing responses but, they asked for money in return for further information. This made it easy to spot. Hundreds of shares, likes and comments were made on social media. This helped tremendously. One of my friends recommended another professional animal search and rescue organization from Camden, South Carolina. I talked with them, and they cautioned me that the odds of finding little Nali can vary tremendously. With this and prayers and encouragement from co-workers and friends, my intentions were specific. As one friend and co-worker said “I feel in my soul that Nali is still out there, you need to go back to GA” I was going to do everything I could to find her.
Two years ago, we surprised our daughter with this little Boston Terrier puppy. She named her Nalea, Nali for short. Nalea as a girl’s name is of Hawaiian and African origin, and the meaning of Nalea is “lei of love; lioness queen”. From the Hawaiian name Naleialoha. In African Swahili it is derived from the word Nala. For our daughter as well as ourselves, I needed to bring our little queen home.
On Wednesday evening late, I received a message from social media that someone thought they saw Nali around a new construction site which is on the back side of a ridge about a mile (as the crow flies) from my mother-in-law’s house. By this time, I was moments from hiring the search and rescue team to come and help me try to find Nali.
Over the phone, the wonderful organization from Camden, SC gave me very specific information about how to track lost pets, it was invaluable. This included the fact that almost every time a missing pet is lost, it will go into a sort of survival, feral mode. They are scared, disoriented, hungry, and in our case, cold.
On Thursday of the same week, with determination and purpose, my husband and I returned to Dahlonega, GA. My sister who had been with me every single step of the way would surprise us later in the day to help in the search.
It had been four long, cold, emotional days since we had seen Nali. We began our search at the construction site on Morrison Moore Parkway where someone indicated they thought they saw her. Our next stop was Pink Dogwood Lane, a short road that bordered the construction site. We used the detailed techniques that the search and rescue organizations recommended. We spent about 45 minutes there just talking calmly with each other, squeaking her favorite toy and using happy phrases that Nali loves all the while looking through an old barn, abandoned house, under old cars, and an outbuilding. We moved to other sites and canvased the area. We stopped at gas stations, hardware stores, hiking trails, subdivisions, and everything in between. We talked to everyone and handed them a flyer.
About thirty minutes later, I got a phone call that the heavy equipment operators saw Nali run across the ridge above the construction site! We rushed to the muddy site over two creeks and hiked up to the ridge about 800 vertical feet. Near the top were two very old logging/gold mining roads. We stayed together and utilized the specific directions from the search and rescue folks. Unfortunately, after two hours, we had not seen one sighting of Nali; not a scuffle in the leaves, not a whine, whimper, or any sign whatsoever. My sister, who Nali adores, arrived about 4:30.
It was quickly getting dark and we were high up on the side of a mountain. We decided to take the next step and put out unlaundered socks and clothing to create a scent field of about 150 yards. We led the trail back to a comfy bed of unlaundered blankets and added some treats and cooked chicken. We made the bed against the base of a small hill next to a covered concrete culvert. We continued to talk calmly for Nali using all her favorite words such as “Do you want to go for a ride, treat, and, let’s go for a walk”.
A few moments later we started down the steep ridge. It was winter so every leaf in the forest was on the ground. It felt like they were at least eight inches deep. The three of us were crunching through them, we slipped and stumbled a little as we talked about what time we were going to continue the search the following morning.
As we began to descend the mountainside, we thought we heard a faint whimper. The crunching of the leaves was so loud that we thought we were imagining things. We stopped immediately. Next, we heard a whimpering bark then that high-pitched, worried, desperate bark! Nali was telling us she was there! Our hearts soared and we dropped to the ground immediately and laid still on our stomachs as the search and rescue professionals had instructed. In the faint dusk light, the three of us spotted Nali about 150 feet above our heads way at the top of the ridge. I lifted my head and could see her silhouette steep above us. I could see her little head and button ears. Our little Nali girl looked thin and scared.
The search and rescue team had taught me that it is very rare that a dog will simply come running to you in these situations. When a dog is in survival mode, even dogs that are well trained, who would never think of disobeying a command, will not come. Even hearing their name may not spur their recollection. The dog you know is a different dog until they are back in your arms. Only then will they “snap out” of their survival mode. This baffled me and I am certain this would not be the case with Nali.
As I lay on my stomach trying not to make eye contact for fear of scaring her further, I continued talking in a soothing voice with calming phrases. The three of us lay there for about ten minutes before Nali began to apprehensively crawl toward us. With a broken voice, I tried to contain my excitement as she inched in our direction. She stopped and wouldn’t come further. At that time, I remembered that the rescue team said laughing and joking is a good motivator too. We started laughing and carrying on.
Nali began to talk to us with an elated whine. She crawled hesitantly toward us. I kept my palm open with the cooked chicken I had made early that morning. She finally reached my arms and immediately snapped out of her survival mode and went berserk with excitement. She didn’t want anything to do with food, only to cry happy tears and wiggle and lick and hug all of us. I could hardly hold her she was wiggling so hard. She continued to whine with excitement and kissed and loved each of us. I held her tight the entire way down the mountain.
She had traveled a mile from the house up and over several mountain ridges. The friends and neighbors in the Dahlonega and surrounding area could not have been more supportive and helpful. My new friends on social media had been instrumental in finding our little Nali girl. My husband’s family has been in this area for five generations. I felt sure they were looking down on us. I know in my heart that the entire community was helping in one way or another.
Nali is now at home in Anderson, sitting in front of a warm fire with a full belly, her fur sisters Meme (Chiwinee – rescue), Toogoodoo (Grey Tabby cat -rescue) and fur brother
Indigo (Siamese cat – rescue). Her human sister will be home soon from college to give her endless belly rubs and love too. Thankfully the wonderful search and rescue team from Camden, SC did not have to deploy with their precious search dogs and team. I look forward one day to meeting them in person under different circumstances. Thursday was not that day.
Side note: I think it is possible that Nali was hiding in the abandoned barn at the top of Pink Dogwood Lane because when the construction men saw her, she was running on the old logging/mining road toward the barn. She had a handful of abrasions including a bloody toenail that is healing nicely. Our vet said she is fine except for sore bones and muscles.
She now has a new GPS device on her collar!
Toni A. Hicks
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