Chris O’Neil and his dog, Cassius, were enjoying a wintry hike near Massachusetts’ Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge last week, when Cassius suddenly plopped down next to a mound of snow just off the trail.
From O’Neil’s perspective, it seemed like Cassius was licking something, which wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary for the young, curious pup. But the fact that he refused to part ways with whatever he’d found instantly concerned O’Neil.
“I called him, he started to come, and then [he] turned and went back,” O’Neil told The Dodo. “After the second time, I decided to go see what he was doing, and that’s when I saw [him].”
O’Neil looked down at what Cassius had been guarding and saw a pile of gray curly fur. An elderly Shih Tzu was balled up in the snow — nearly frozen.
“I could see him breathing, and when I put my hand on him, he moved his head, so I knew he was alive,” O’Neil said.
O’Neil swiftly pulled his sweatshirt off and draped it over the dog, then called the Harvard Police Department. Once connected with Phyllis from animal control, he described the dog and soon learned his name and heartbreaking backstory.
“Gizmo is a 10-year-old tripod pup [who] accidentally went missing two weeks ago in Harvard, Massachusetts,” Marlz Suess, of Missing Dogs Massachusetts (MDM), told The Dodo. “Many odds were against him, such as coyote-filled woods, a busy highway and extreme [temperatures] amongst severe snowstorms.”
Gizmo was already a fighter. He’d beaten cancer and heartworm, and after losing a leg, he learned how to run, play and live just as happily as ever.
But when he slipped out of his family’s home just days before a massive snowstorm, everything they’d worked so hard for suddenly slipped away. As temperatures dropped and the snow began to fall, their hope of seeing him again started to fade.
His family contacted animal control immediately and were connected with MDM, a volunteer group that helps reunite lost pups with their people. A team of volunteers in Gizmo’s area, Kirsten, Rob, Mary and Mary Ann, were ready to help.
But searches like these depend on sightings. And as days turned into weeks with no confirmed sign of Gizmo, the team had nothing to go on.
It wasn’t until O’Neil called a couple of weeks later that Gizmo’s search team felt a sense of hope again. They alerted Gizmo’s family, who raced to the trail while O’Neil scooped the shivering boy up and carried him three quarters of a mile back to the road.
Eventually, Gizmo’s family arrived, and they were beyond relieved to hold him in their arms again. They rushed him to Westford Emergency Animal Hospital, where he recovered for a few days before going home.
After weeks of fending for himself in the snow, Gizmo beat the odds yet again. And he has Cassius, a rescue dog who’s just as resilient, to thank for it.
“Cass has 18 BB pellets throughout his body,” O’Neil said, “and he is still the sweetest boy around.”
It’s been a few days since Gizmo’s rescue, and the community is still in awe of how it all unfolded. From Gizmo’s incredible survival skills to Cass’ refusal to leave his side, their story has become a reminder that some heroes wear collars instead of capes.
“Cass is a true hero dog!” Suess said. “And Gizmo is a true survivor.”