The rescue

“Syd? SY-YD!” Matthew’s voice echoed through the woods. “SYD!”

Syd sighed inwardly. His human was certainly impatient; he’d only been gone a minute! And now he was in a most inconvenient position so Matthew was going to have to wait until he was done, he thought to himself.

A few moments later, Syd kicked some loose dirt behind him to cover his evidence and ran out of the woods in the direction of Matthew’s voice. Bounding up to him—Syd knew to slow his speed before he got too close—Syd skilfully came to a smooth stop, resting back onto his back legs at Matthew’s feet, beaming up at him as if to say, “here I am!” Humans didn’t like him vocalising much, so it was best to let his presence do the communicating.

“There you are,” Matthew said, flustered. Syd panted up at his human in reassurance, letting his tongue lol out of his mouth to cool off from the brief run.

Syd knew it was a big day and felt a little guilty for making Matthew worry. Matthew had spent the morning in a frenzied state, rushing around and throwing his and Syd’s things into various bags. He had only half-eaten his breakfast, leaving the remainder forgotten and laying on the counter, which Syd gazed at mournfully while Matthew hurried around him; what a waste! But this was how Syd knew it was going to be a big day; only on exciting days did Matthew get this harried.

After all the hustle and bustle of getting out of the house extra early, they were now not doing much at all, but rather, waiting for something. They were in a clearing, alongside some trucks and a big white tent. The largest truck had markings emblazoned down its side: NORTHERN COUNTY SEARCH AND RESCUE. Syd had seen this truck on numerous occasions before and it usually meant he was going on some an adventure to find something. And this usually meant lots of walking, so he was excited.

There were also a lot of other humans milling about, a lot of whom Syd recognised. There was the tallest human Syd had ever seen, today standing as high as ever. Another had long head fur the same colour as sunlight; she always shooed Syd away from the food table, but gave him extra treats when Matthew wasn’t looking. Another again also had long fur, though this was the colour of wet mud—the fun kind of mud. She always scratched Syd behind the ears just the way he liked, and he tried to lead Matthew over to her now. Syd could tell Matthew liked being close to her most of the time, too; perhaps he wished she would scratch behind his ears as well. She never did though.

Before they could within scratching range of her, Tall Human began to make noises. Suddenly all the humans’ attention was drawn towards him and they shifted to form a circle with him on one edge. Syd knew he wasn’t going to get any attention now, so he sat back down on his legs next to Matthew and lowered his tail.

As Tall Human spoke loudly to everyone, Syd looked around at the clearing. He had been here with Matthew before, and it was one of his favourite places as it always meant lots of running and exploring because there was not much else around. It was far away from homes like his and Matthew’s.

The sky didn’t have any furry white spots. It was warm and bright; a good day for running fast without mud to slow you down. Not that Syd didn’t love mud—it was his favourite!—but it was a bit of a distraction when there was a job to do, like today.

He returned his attention to Tall Human and tried to understand what he would be doing. Tall Human sounded urgent and serious and a little sad. He kept making his noises while pointing to another human who came to stand beside him, who Syd had never seen before. This human was scared and tired-looking and sad too.

Syd looked back at Tall Human who was now gesturing at the big mountains that surrounded the clearing. There was a glimmer of white on their tops that wasn’t always there. Tall Human then pointed towards a narrow dirt path that led away from the clearing they were all standing in. Syd understood: that was his starting point! He waved his tail in anticipation. He already knew that trail went a long way, and that meant lots of walking! But he forced himself to stay seated, and to not get too excited; the humans didn’t like that.

Finally, Tall Human held up a small, grubby pink sweater. He walked over to Syd and lowered himself to his level. Tall Human held out the sweater to Syd, who had been able to sense it well before Tall Human had even pulled it out of its bag to show the crowd. Even so, Syd knew what was expected of him, and he obediently thrust his nose onto the sweater and spent a few moments sniffing to commit its scent to memory. 

After that, he knew, he was allowed to get up and start moving towards the dirt path Tall Human had directed everyone’s attention to earlier. It was time to let his nose do the work and his legs follow; time to find whatever smelled like that sweater…

Initially, the scent was barely traceable on the ground, but Syd sensed it growing steadily stronger the further up the dirt path he went.

It was a different smell he was tracing today compared to normal. Normally it was grown human smells, not puppy human smells.

Further and further up the trail Syd went, before eventually he came to a split in the path. Without pausing, he instinctively turned to his left and kept walking.

Sometimes there was a pungent leaf or bug that distracted him for a moment off the path, which inevitably led to Matthew—who was following him loyally—becoming unnecessarily anxious, but then Syd would regain the scent after a moment of snuffling around more once, and together they would continue on again.

Throughout the morning, Syd heard the other humans crashing through the wooded area behind them, repeating the same sounds, calling out for the lost puppy.

He and Matthew walked deeper into the wilderness, where the trees were thinner. The sun burst through in bigger sprays of light, and yet it felt cooler. At one point, Matthew forced Syd to stop and drink from a bowl he filled with water from a bag strapped to his back. Syd didn’t want to distract himself from the search, but he did feel more alert after the refreshing drink.

Gradually the sweater scent grew stronger on the ground and Syd became excited again, after having lost some of his enthusiasm with the hours passed and the wrong turns that had resulted in them going back over their own scent again.

The smell told Syd he was close now, as it was no longer just on the ground, but in the air as well. Surely the humans could sense it too? He picked up his speed and heard Matthew making noises at the other humans behind him as they tried to keep up.

The scent eventually took Syd off the trail and through some scratchy bushes, then through a small creek—where his senses were momentarily stunned by the fresh wetness that splashed up around him—then, on the other side, once he had recovered the scent and shaken off the wetness, through more bushes, which brought him into a small clearing, and—

“Doggy!” A dirty and scared puppy human was curled up on the ground underneath a tree on the edge of the clearing, looking at Syd. She was so little. What was she doing all alone out here?

Syd bounded up to her as she pulled herself onto scratched knees. The scent was almost overwhelming this close after following mere traces of it all day. But through the scent Syd could also smell the puppy’s fear. She was cold and shivering and wet, and the fur on her head had leaves and twigs tangled through it, like how Syd’s did when he spent too long running through the bushes near home. 

Syd crept up to the puppy and she reached out to him with little arms. He nuzzled her cautiously, offering comfort, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and made wet gulping sounds from her very wet, very red nose.

Syd wasn’t entirely used to such close contact as this, as Matthew kept his distance most of the time, and the family before Matthew hadn’t been very nice at all. But this was nice, Syd thought, feeling the puppy’s little body relax and an exhausted relief replace her anxiety. He would protect her until the humans caught up, he thought proudly.

But he was confused. He could hear the humans making loud noises, but they were still a long way away from where he and the puppy were. Why were they taking so long? 

After a moment, Syd remembered his voice; this was the one time he was allowed to use it! Not wanting to scare the puppy further, he gently shook himself out of her arms before he stepped away and began yelling for the humans: “I’ve found her, she’s here! She’s safe. She’s HERE!” And he kept yelling until Matthew came running through the bushes and found them there.