Carol and Verne King of Chetteroy, Washington, had a family vacation to Montana in July 2019. Katie, the couple’s 7-year-old border collie, accompanied them.

Carol and Vern went to supper and watched the local auto races after staying at a pet-friendly motel in Kalispell. Of course, the dog had to stay in the room; you can’t take it with you to the stadium, where there are people everywhere and automobiles rumble down the highway.

Katie, however, was not there when the couple returned to the motel late at night. A rainstorm blew out in Kalispell that evening, and the King’s border collie was terrified of loud sounds. The dog apparently managed to open the door and leap out into the hallway. The front desk lady informed the husband and wife that a highly agitated dog had just run out of the hotel.

The Kings were distraught. They were in a little hamlet near Glacier National Park, surrounded by woods and farmland, and they had no idea where to begin their search. However, both wives had worked in law enforcement in Los Angeles and swiftly pulled themselves together. They decided to conduct a large-scale search.

Vern and Carol combed the hotel grounds until early in the morning. Then they started going across the city, district after district, handing out pamphlets and knocking on doors. Carol began doing social media studies. She started posting in all Facebook groups as well as on her own page. The woman’s postings quickly went viral. Strangers joined her on the street and assisted her in her search for Cathy.

However, days passed with no sign of the lost dog. Carol herself informed Daily Inter Lake reporters that the loss of her beloved and the unknown became a severe test for her.

This resulted in despair. Anxiety and terror made my stomach hurt.

After a few weeks of looking, the Kings bought special wildlife cameras and animal traps in the hopes of luring Cathy to her favorite snack, cheese sticks.

Carol began jogging and cycling around town in the hopes that the dog would smell her perspiration. The pair even spread their T-shirts and Katie’s blanket across the city. Vern then collected several buckets of manure from his farm and placed them near the traps, hoping that his pet would remember the scent and return. The guy even purchased night vision goggles to go around the city’s outskirts at night.

People have sometimes called or written to say they spotted a dog that matched the description and images. However, it was usually an entirely different dog. Or, having rushed to the next farm on a call, the Kings found that there was no one there. Four skunks, a magpie, and a cat were caught in the traps. There was also no video of Katie on the cameras.

Carol’s vacation ended in August, and she had to return to her homeland. The lady worked as a postal carrier, and her bosses couldn’t grant her any additional time off over the summer. King made the decision to resign.

Katie was just more important to me. I assured them that I would just work this week.

When the lady returned to Kalispell, her husband went home to care for the couple’s other animals, which included two dogs and a cat.

After a month and a half, there was still no proof that Cathy was alive and well in Kalispell. There was, however, no indication that she had died. Carol started to lose hope during the second week of September. She grieved for days and pondered going home.

I wasn’t prepared to go, but I didn’t know what else to do.

The lady chose to spend the weekend of September 14–15 with her spouse. But he persuaded her to remain a bit longer. And it proved to be a fatal choice.

On September 15, a guy who lived next door to the motel contacted Carol and claimed to have seen Cathy in his yard. The dog had vanished when King and her buddy arrived. They then started walking around the nearby field, equipped with binoculars.

Locals soon greeted nearly frantic search engines and pointed to a tree where a scared, starving puppy was hiding. The dog was a border collie. When Carol yelled her name, Cathy sprang into the arms of her hostess. I couldn’t stop thinking, “I did it; I found her.” I wept, held her in my arms, and couldn’t put her in the vehicle because I was scared I wouldn’t have time to slam the door and lose her again.

Finally, the fugitive was loaded into an automobile.