Faithful Owner Finds Wayward Dog Pet Survives A Month Of Snow And Bitter Cold

Glenn Hinckley’s furry, four-legged jogging partner is back.

After braving the snow and below-zero temperatures near Sullivan Park for almost a month, Brak, a brindle pit bull-black lab mix, has been rescued.

The dog raced off into the night last month after a train spooked him while the animal was running with Hinckley near the Centennial Trail.

Spokane County Animal Control officers found the 8-month-old dog, skinny and starving, in a Spokane Valley concrete company’s gravel yard last Friday.

“It was just skin and bones,” said animal-control officer Jennifer Kline.

Hinckley, a rookie sheriff’s deputy aspiring to make the SWAT team, used to jog along dirt roads south of the Spokane River with the dog to stay in shape. The course was ideal because Hinckley did not have to keep him on a leash and running on dirt was easier on the deputy’s legs.

But on Jan. 10, a train rumbled by and sent the frightened dog scrambling into the brush. Hinckley gave chase, but the dog vanished.

Hinckley reported the lost dog to animal control. He continued to search faithfully for the dog, following tracks in the snow and surveying the area through binoculars. He also became a regular visitor to the animal shelter.

Despite the passing weeks, Hinckley didn’t give up. One afternoon he returned to an area he had searched early that morning and discovered a dog had followed his tracks.

Still, Hinckley had no luck finding Brak. He worried the biting cold temperatures and lack of food had overcome his dog.

“It was so cold going up over those tracks, I could only be out there about an hour and a half,” Hinckley said.

In the mean time, Hinckley and his wife bought a new golden pit bull because their two young daughters were upset over the loss of Brak.

“I have to admit, I was beginning to give up hope and then animal control called,” Hinckley said.

Workers at Central Pre-Mix Concrete Products Co. reported to an animal-control dispatcher that a dog was living among the mounds of gravel in the company’s yard near the animal shelter.

Although nearly a month had passed since Hinckley lost Brak, Kline had a feeling the dog belonged to Hinckley. Seeing Brak’s thick, brown leather collar clinched it.

While animal-control officers tracked the dog, dispatchers called Hinckley, who rushed to the gravel yard.

“I thought for sure, when he heard me, he’d come to me,” Hinckley said.

However, a stiff wind blowing into Hinckley face kept the dog from getting a whiff of his owner’s scent. And after being apart for a month, the dog did not recognize Hinckley by sight.

Kline and her partner, Carl Boyd, used a trail of dog biscuits and a can of cat food to lure the starving dog back to its owner.

After taking a minute to cautiously reacquaint himself with Hinckley, Brak leaped joyfully into the arms of his relieved owner.

Kline said the dog probably slept under trucks to shelter itself from nearly two feet of snow and temperatures that dipped as low as 24 below zero.

“We tell people here every day: Don’t ever give up on your pets,” she said.

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