Distance, wildfire no obstacle for pup set on getting home

AUGUSTA, Mont. – You might call him Wonder Dog after hearing his story. But his real name is Bandit and there’s no sense whistling for him.

Chances are, he wouldn’t come if you did.

The 4-year-old dog, half Australian shepherd and half border collie, had a wild ride two weeks ago when Tucker and Amy Mills, owners of Mills Wilderness Adventures – and Bandit – took a group of customers from New York and Florida into the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

Shortly after they passed the Benchmark area, the Ahorn fire blew up behind them, cutting off their return route home.

Tucker Mills, the group’s guide, did what any good guide would do. He led the team – along with Bandit – through the Bob Marshall Wilderness to Holland Lake, located in the Seeley-Swan Valley on the Bob’s western edge.

There, on a Friday, exhausted from their journey, the Millses loaded 26 horses on several trailers and drove the long route home to Augusta. The problem was, they forgot Bandit.

“He must have gotten confused with all the vehicles,” said Amy Mills. “Or maybe he went to take a nap in the shade and just missed the ride.”

Only Bandit knows the truth. The speckled dog was left alone in the wilderness, and the Millses, saddened by their loss, counted him out.

“When we got home, we called the ranger at White River anyway,” said Mills. “We asked them to call us if Bandit happened by.”

A day later the phone rang. It was 2 p.m. and the news was good. Bandit had been seen darting past the ranger station, located 32 miles east of Holland Lake, where the Millses had left him.

But if Bandit was trying to get home, as it seemed he was, he had a bigger problem ahead of him.

The Ahorn fire was hot and getting hotter, standing right in his way. The fire was the whole reason Tucker Mills led the team west instead of east.

“I was worried about Bandit coming through the fire,” said Mills. “Then, on Sunday morning, I opened the front door and he came charging in. I couldn’t believe it. He got a little stoved up that night, so I gave him some aspirin and he was fine.”

Wildfires and grizzly bears, steep mountains and wolf packs, none of them could slow Bandit down. The dog covered 96 miles in two days, determined to get home to the place he knew best.

“Bandit will only come to us,” Amy said, smiling. “He’s very loyal and very stand-offish.”

And likely very tired.