This beautiful girl is Kali and for 10 excruciating days last month, her family was positive she was dead.
Kali belongs to David Kareken, his wife Joy, and their son Alexander. The family lives in North Carolina but were visiting Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park for some camping and canoeing. As usual, Kali tagged along.
"For a long time we called her our 'adventure princess' because she loved being out there so much, but now it really fits," Kareken told BuzzFeed News.
They'd gone to check out Rebecca Falls, "a very big powerful rapid." That's when Kali slipped, fell, and was carried away by the water.
The rapids were too violent to go in and after searching downstream, the family found no sign of Kali.
"We were positive that she had drowned ... we just didn’t see any way," said Kareken.
"We assumed she had sunk to the bottom and we wouldn’t see her again until she floated to the top a few days later. The idea of that was too much to bear so we decided to get out of the woods."
They returned to camp, devastated. "She was our den mother. In the morning and she’d wake us up, and lick us, and go out a chase squirrels," said Kareken. "We were incredibly grief-stricken. It’s losing a member of your family."
They returned to North Carolina, their home feeling empty without Kali. But what they didn't know was that Kali was very much alive.
They'd told folks around the park about Kali and one day they got a call: a dog had been found. After sending photos to confirm the match, Kareken hopped in his car for the 22-hour drive back to the park.
"Just the disbelief really was one of the most overriding emotions," said Kareken. "It really was like having somebody come back from the dead."
Finally, a floatplane arrived with Kali on board.
And then, magic.
"It’s dreamlike in a way, and yet there she is, on me, kissing my face, we’re making puppy noises together," said Kareken.
"It was really an extraordinary moment."
If your heart can handle it, the video of the reunion will give you the happiest tears.
View this video on YouTube
Despite surviving 10 days in the wild, Kali was in pretty good shape. A little thinner, a little dirty, but still the sweet girl they thought they'd lost.
"Every once in a while, we wake up in the morning and she hops up and give us a kiss and we think, is this just a dream? And we have to go, this isn't a dream, this is real."
