LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Back in January, a Shelby County dog owner was on vacation out of the country at the same time historic levels of snow fell over WAVE country.
When Billy Newington’s original dog sitter hired through an app got snowed in, the company was able to find him a new sitter.
“That sitter was supposed to call us when they got to the house to talk about everything regarding the dogs, their feeding schedule, going out,” Newington said.
But Newington says that didn’t happen. Instead, he got a text saying the dogs were playing in the backyard.
“I said, ‘What do you mean the dogs are out in the back playing? There’s no fence out there,’ and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t realize.” My guess is they saw this fence here and just assumed there was a fence around the entire yard.”
The sitter was only able to track down Newington’s other dog, Quinn.
“Sawyer was long gone,” he said.
So he took to social media where word quickly spread.
But being more than 4,000 miles away meant vacation turned into a full-time job of bringing Sawyer home.
“I was basically trying to stay in two time zones at the same time with communicating,” Newington said.
Two days after he got back to the States on Jan. 17, Newington and a Shelby County thermal drone company took their search to the sky.
“They found him within literally 5 minutes,” he said.
Sawyer was curled up in a ball against a fence along Freedoms Way. Newington headed over that way, while on the phone with the drone operator.
“I panicked, and even though I was told ‘Don’t call his name, he’s in flight or fight he might run,’ I just panicked and said his name. I didn’t shout it. I said ‘Sawyer’ and the drone people, I couldn’t see anything because it was so dark, but they said, ‘He’s looking at you’ and so I said ‘Sawyer’ and he came running towards the fence,” he said.
Ten days of panic and fear were instantly relieved, and Sawyer and his sister Quinn were back to what they know best: playing together.
“I can’t even begin to express my gratitude for this community and everything they did to make it possible for him to come home,” Newington said.
With Sawyer back home and getting readjusted, Newington says he wants to raise money to get his own thermal drone so he can return the favor to other pet owners. To learn more about donating, click or tap here.
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