“Phoebe and Tillie have now been missing for 5 days and we need your help…” The Facebook post was a last resort. Vashon Island Pet Protectors volunteer Amy Carey and her colleagues had done all they could to locate the basset hound and her setter-mix pal, but the island, off the coast of Washington State, is about the size of Manhattan, with deep valleys and thick forest. Then they got a tip. A reddish dog kept popping out of a wooded ravine and approaching a local before heading back to the ravine.
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Amy and some other volunteers went to see. “Tillie?” they called out. A single “woof” came in reply. A few minutes later, they found Tillie at the edge of an abandoned cistern, peering inside.
Phoebe was trapped in the cistern but was healthy, sitting on a pile of concrete rubble that kept her out of the water. “For nearly a week Tillie stayed by her side, with the exception of the few minutes each day when she went to look for help,” Amy says. “Every cell in her body was willing me to get Phoebe, to recognize what was going on. A true friend and a humbling example of the power of love.”
