They had no idea someone was already looking for her.
There’s nothing 8-year-old Stella, a German shorthair pointer, loves more than accompanying her dad to all their favorite spots. Whether visiting the preschool they used to own or trekking to their favorite field along the Colorado River, Stella and her dad, Gary Overman’s, days are typically filled with joy.
But a recent trip to one of their usual spots quickly turned into a whirlwind of chaos, when Stella slipped out of Overman’s view and silently plopped into the Colorado River without anyone knowing.
It all started when Overman and Stella ventured out to their favorite field along the river, which was lined with thick brush. They’d visited it often, and Stella was very familiar with her surroundings.
“She has wandered off before, but also always has come back,” Overman told The Dodo. “Her sense of where home is has been displayed several times to be absolutely incredible.”
Stella wandered into the brush as she typically did at one point, and Overman waited for her to return. Five minutes later, Overman called for Stella, but she didn’t respond. Fifteen minutes later, when there was still no sign of Stella, he activated the alarm on her collar, which could usually grab her attention.
“I pushed a remote control device that I have that sounds a beep on her collar that she wears,” Overman said. “I did not hear the sound go off, but I thought maybe she did, and she knows to come back to me.”
Fifteen minutes quickly turned into half an hour; before long, an hour and a half had passed without any sign from Stella, despite Overman’s constant calls and alarm activations.
“I didn’t know what the right thing to do was,” Overman said. “Do I leave the spot where I know she knows where to come back to and try to find her? Or do I just stay put? I decided to stay put.”
Overman stayed where he was for a little while longer, just in case Stella returned to the spot she’d last seen him. But when the sun started to eventually set, Overman decided he couldn’t stay put any longer.
Since so much time had passed, Overman worried that Stella could’ve wandered over the southern border into Mexico, located just a mile south of the field where she’d been lost.
“Those two hours of looking for her were really tough,” Overman said. “I mean, Mexico was right there, and I was very concerned that she could’ve gone downstream and not got back. Truthfully, I had big-time prayers going on.”
Overman jumped into his truck and drove along the river to the border, then activated the alarm on Stella’s collar again with no such luck. He was distraught.
At the same time, about a mile away, Yuma’s Border Patrol encountered a dog swimming desperately in the river.
They rushed to the dog as she swam toward their boat for help. Minutes later, the border agents pulled the dog, whose collar said “Stella,” out of the water and onto their boat.
“[A]gents assigned to the [Yuma Riverine Unit] … saw her struggling in the water and pulled her to safety,” US Border Patrol Yuma Sector (USBPYS) wrote on Facebook. “Unaware that the dog was missing, [they] found an exhausted Stella swimming in the river about a mile downstream and pulled her onto the boat.”
Stella was depleted of energy but safe. The USBPYS agents held onto her as they drove the boat back to shore.
When they called the number on her collar, a relieved Overman answered.
“I was driving back to [the border] again when I got the call from the border patrol that said they got her,” Overman said. “Seeing Stella on that boat again, it was an incredible sigh of relief. I must’ve been by an onion field because my eyes were definitely watering.”
Overman met the USBYS agents at the shore, where a now-rested Stella paddled back to her dad to be showered with love. Overman was beyond grateful to the Border Patrol agents for saving his dog’s life.
And the USBPYS agents were more than happy to bring relief during such a distressing time.
“We are glad to be a part of this happy ending!” USBPYS wrote.
