Marco Polo Saves Pretty’s Life
I just wanted to tell you about a rescue of my dog, Pretty. We live in hilly terrain surrounding a lake. Recently, the lake was partially drained, which created large mud flats. Pretty had chased a deer and become lost. Because of a hill and heavy brush, my searches on three previous days going down a road about a half mile from her position had given me no signal.
On the fourth day of searching I took the Marco Polo unit with me on my motorcycle and went riding along the perimeter of the lake. However, the terrain eventually became too rough for the motorcycle so I continued on foot. Because I was now on the other side of the hill, I eventually picked up a faint signal and followed it. The direction arrow got me closer and closer. I started calling for her and I could hear her whining but still couldn’t see her. I continued following the arrow, and when the signal got to 86% I was finally able to see her through the heavy brush, about 300 to 400 yards away.
I was relieved to find her, but I could see that Pretty had become trapped out on the mud flat and getting her out was going to be a huge problem. She was stuck fast and her entire underside was covered with mud. I set out across the mud flat and immediately sank up to my thigh, losing my right shoe. The left shoe soon followed, and I had to crawl across the mud flat in order to get to her. I pulled her to high ground and we spent the next half hour working around the swampy edge to get back to my motorcycle. She would never have been able to get out on her own.
An hour later she was home, bathed, fed, her paws and cuts treated, and on a course of antibiotics. She slept for the better part of a day. It took her almost a week to recover her old spring.
With the lake down many feet like it was, Pretty was able to get herself into a place that I never would have looked. I can’t stress enough how I would not have been able to find her without your invention. It is the only system that would have worked. One reason we bought Marco Polo was the long battery life. Another reason was that it does not rely on cellular service, which is very spotty in our area. Other technologies wouldn’t have worked, or would have drained the batteries after three days and she was gone four. I don’t want to think about how things might have turned out had she not had the Marco Polo collar on. Thank you Marco Polo.Debra W. – Lake Harding, AL