Orli, black lab

Fate helps find dog lost in desert crash
Diane Bell, San Diego Union Tribune
April 9, 2005

Their fourth day on a desolate, rain-soaked trail through the Mojave Desert between Needles and Barstow, John and Denise Vissat veered their Jeep off their intended route. In retrospect, John thinks the unplanned detour to find drier terrain was fate. For suddenly, after not seeing anyone for hours, they came across a lost dog trailing a leather leash.

The black Lab, caked in dirt, was several miles from the nearest highway. She wolfed down water and about four days of their dog's food supply. Then John, general manager of Hornblower Cruises in downtown San Diego, chipped the mud away from her collar and uncovered tags identifying the Labrador as a guide dog. There was a phone number and a microchip ID.

Back home

Meanwhile, Ronnie Phillips, at the Woodland Hills home of her son, was recuperating from an auto accident that had broken her pelvis and left her imprisoned in her collapsed Saturn SUV. Accompanied by her golden retriever, Remington, and black Lab, Orli, she had been driving northeast on I-15 to her home in Las Vegas on March 16 when she felt a bump, swerved, overcorrected and lost control of the SUV. It careened through a guardrail and rolled over. Phillips later was pried out of the wreckage and taken by helicopter to a hospital in Colton. A Highway Patrol officer dropped off the uninjured golden retriever at the Barstow Humane Society for family members. But the Lab that Phillips initially trained as a guide dog was nowhere to be found.

The Highway Patrol searched for Orli. The tow truck driver searched for her. Phillips' daughter returned the next day and scoured the area, leaving word with local vets. They had no idea how badly injured the dog had been in the crash, or if she was even still alive.

For days, Phillips called her home answering machine. "After about a week, I gave up hope," she said. "I figured if Orli had survived the accident, the coyotes had gotten to her."

Last Sunday evening, however, nearly three weeks after the crash, the good-news message was there. The Vissats had found Orli. Phillips called them sobbing. Was her dog dead? she asked. "No, she's doing great," came the reply. "I was hysterical. It was unbelievable. A miracle," Phillips says. Her son drove to San Diego the next day, and Orli now is back at home with her pal, Remington. She's 12 pounds thinner, but otherwise a very lucky pooch.

"It's like you lose a child, and your child comes home . . . She was a part of the family," Phillips says. "Now she has godparents."

Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050409/news_7m9bell.html
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