A 2-year-old boy is safe after walking about 7 miles and spending the night in mountain lion territory in northwest Arizona after he snuggled up to a very good dog who had found the boy wandering in the rugged wilderness.
His new furry hero then led him to safety in the morning.
Two-year-old Boden Allen was reported missing on Monday afternoon after he wandered away from his home near Seligman, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
The little boy was last seen wearing just a tank top, pajama pants and Vans sneakers.
Now enters the hero of this story: Buford, a 160-pound half-Pyrenees and half-Anatolian working ranch dog.
After 16 hours of a multi-agency search with more than 40 people looking for the toddler, rancher Scotty Dunton found him early Tuesday morning walking with Buford.
“I see my dog walking down the fence with a little blonde, cute little 2-year-old kid,” Dunton told FOX Weather.
Dunton and his wife, Dawn, own and operate Dunton Ranch, a 25,000-cattle ranch in Kingman.
Dawn told Scotty that morning about the missing boy.
Both were worried since he had been reported missing the previous afternoon.
“I knew exactly who it was,” Scotty Dunton said. “I was really worried. I mean, as cold as it is at night and stuff. I really was thinking the worst.”
Dunton Ranch was about 7 miles from where Boden was last seen.
He was crying and upset when found, but Dunton comforted him and took him inside to call the sheriff’s office.
After Boden guzzled about a gallon of water and snacked on string cheese and a banana, Dunton said the little guy was doing better.
‘Toughest 2-year-old’ evades dangerous wildlife with Buford’s help
While Boden’s story is amazing, Dunton, a father and grandfather, said nothing would surprise him about a 2-year-old, a sentiment all toddler parents can relate to.
“I said, ‘You’re the toughest 2-year-old I’ve ever come across,’”Dunton said he told the tot.
Dunton was able to find his tiny shoe prints some of the way where he walked with the dog.
“Buford has a way he comes home every day down the side, and across the wash; his little tracks were right with him the whole way,” Dunton said. “So, yeah, he brought him right here.”
Last week, overnight temperatures were in the 20s near Kingman but recently warmed into the 40s when Boden spent his night out in the wild.
According to Dunton, the boy said he curled up under a tree with Buford, with his fur likely keeping him warm through the cold night.
In addition to his 7-mile trek and the cold, the toddler also evaded wildlife predators.
“There’s lions, there’s coyotes. There’s a couple of bears that came through a couple of weeks ago,” Dunton said. “There’s all sorts of hazards up here for that kid. So, if the dog was with him, that dog would die rather than let that kid get hurt.”
Arizona Department of Public Safety rangers searching in a helicopter for the toddler spotted two mountain lions along the terrain the boy walked through, according to the sheriff’s office.
Dunton said Buford helps protect the cattle on Dunton Ranch from coyotes.
He sleeps most of the day and heads out at night to work, which is why the dog was in the right place at the right time to find the missing boy.
“I don’t know how long the dog was with him. I mean, it’s 7 miles, so he definitely spent a lot of it on his own,” Dunton said.
Boden asked Dunton to ride along with him when deputies took him back to his parents, who were obviously very worried about him and overjoyed to see him safe.
Dunton said the toddler’s parents say he is back to his normal self after his incredible night away.
As for Buford, he got a well-deserved rib-eye steak for dinner on Tuesday night.
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