A 3-Year-Old Went Missing. Good Thing Buddy Was There

Buddy's the family dog who protected the boy in the woods until he was rescued
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2020 11:50 AM CST
Updated Feb 20, 2020 11:58 AM CST

Get those treats ready, because Buddy surely deserves them. First Coast News reports a 3-year-old boy who went missing in Florida this week is now "safe and sound," and it's partly because his family's dog was with him the whole time, keeping watch over him. Fox News cites a Facebook post by the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office that notes a mom in Suwannee County placed a 911 call Tuesday, "frantic" because her young son had disappeared from their yard along with Buddy. Deputies, investigators, and K9 units converged on the area around the home, but a call from a neighbor soon led them closer to the missing pair.

The neighbor told the 911 dispatcher he'd found a child and dog in the woods, but that the dog wouldn't let him near the boy. WCTV has some of the bodycam footage released by the sheriff's office that shows Buddy leading deputies to the boy. "Fortunately, we were able to reunite the child with his mother, thanks in part to 'man's best friend' and an alert neighbor," the Facebook post notes, using the hashtags #givethatdogabone and #LassieaintgotnothingonBuddy. "It was such a good ending to something that could have been tragic," Sheriff Sam St. John says, per WCTV. (More uplifting news stories.)

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