After 52-year-old Ian Breland was killed in late August when his truck went off the road and into Upper Campbell Lake, it looked as if his beloved dog Sadie had also died in the crash.
But Sadie’s body was not found, and Ian’s father, Mel, held out a faint hope that she could still be alive — even though his own dog, who had also been in the truck, didn’t survive.
Kim, Ian’s mother, was less optimistic about Sadie, a terrier/poodle/border collie cross. “I didn’t think there was a chance.”
But 13 days later, to their astonishment, Sadie was found alive by campers in the area.
For the Campbell River couple, “They literally feel that a part of Ian has come back,” said Ian’s friend Laurie Clark.
Kim said that despite having a badly broken leg, Sadie had somehow managed to swim across the lake from the scene of the crash and limp to a camping area.
She said the campers who found Sadie had been walking their own two dogs when they suddenly realized they had three dogs with them.
They used the information on Sadie’s collar to get her to Tsolum Veterinary Hospital in Merville, where Ian had taken her over the years.
The campers got Ian’s address from the vet and drove to Campbell River, intending to tell him that Sadie was alive.
Mel happened to be at Ian’s house when they arrived, where he heard the news that Sadie had survived.
The Brelands drove to the clinic the next day, just after Sadie had undergone emergency surgery to amputate her damaged rear leg.
After hearing what had happened to Ian, the vet wouldn’t charge for the $2,500 procedure, Kim said.
“My son always took our dogs and his dogs there,” she said. “They knew him well, and they wouldn’t accept any payment.”
A pair of staff members even stayed the night with Sadie at the clinic to watch her after the surgery.
“They had blankets and pillows on the floor and they slept there with that dog,” Kim said. “That’s pretty amazing of them.”
She and Mel were inspired to start making monthly donations to the clinic for a program that helps people who can’t afford treatment for their pets, a cause Ian had also supported, Kim said.
Sadie and the Brelands were reunited just before the couple was to pick up Ian’s ashes, which Kim said provided them with a sense of comfort.
Kim said Sadie seems to know she is there to help her and her Mel to cope.
“Very much so,” she said. “She doesn’t leave my husband’s side.”
She said Ian was the happiest she had seen him in a long time when he died, and she and Mel have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have reached out to share their experiences with him.
As for Sadie, “She is an amazing dog to go through what she went through,” Kim said.
“I look at that dog often and wish that it could talk, and tell me everything that happened.”
