On a calm August morning, Milo Bear, a golden retriever, takes a walk at Cyan Park in South Reno.
Christine Hull, Milo’s owner, describes his personality.
“He loves going on walks. He loves cuddling. He loves to just, you know, be with his family. He loves car rides. He gets very excited,” she said.
Milo looks up to Hull once he heard her.
Hull then said, “Oh, did I say the magic word?”
The Hull family and Milo are tight knit — going on trips and enjoying the holidays together.
On Christmas Day 2024, the Hull’s decided to take Milo Bear out to enjoy the snow up near Mount Rose.
And as they were heading back from the day of play, a sheriff deputy’s horn went off. That’s when Milo Bear panicked.
“The sheriff's deputy saw [Milo running] and was trying to prevent him from going in the street, and so he sort of drove towards him, and that startled him even more,” she said. “So then he jumped over a snowbank and just booked it into the woods. He was just totally overwhelmed and scared.”
The search for Milo began. The family quickly got in contact with Tahoe Paws in hopes of finding him. But after a few weeks of searching, Milo was still missing.
After spending so many days out in the wild, some would have lost hope of seeing their furry friend again. But not the Hull family.
With help from the surrounding communities, the search for Milo continued.
“We had so many incredible people in Incline, in South Reno, all over the place, sharing posts about him, sharing the flyers, posting them all over the place. And we printed probably 1000s of flyers,” Hull said.
After 72 days lost in the wilderness, Milo was found in the Carson City area by a local resident walking her own dog.
The resident took Milo to the Humane Society, where the clinic scanned his chip and contacted the family.
Hull said he lost over 45 pounds from the time he darted into the woods to when he was found. Luckily, there were no signs of disease or injuries.
Although Hull and vets don’t know exactly what helped him survive, she said they noticed a weird smell coming from his head.
“We took him to our groomer… and she said, ‘Did they say anything about him getting skunked?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ She goes, ‘He got skunked. He has a smell, and it was all in his head.’ So we asked the vet, and she said that it's very likely that the skunk might have saved his life,” she said.
Now after over a year of being home, Milo is back to getting kisses and hugs from his family. And going to the park.
Hull learned earlier this year that Milo was nominated for Nationwide’s Hambone award. It recognizes the most unusual pet insurance claim. People can vote online for their favorite nominee til August 14.
She says the nomination is a great opportunity to highlight animal safety, and has some words of advice for other pet owners.
“You have to protect your animals with GPS collars and leashes and all that kind of stuff,” she said.
Hull wants to take the opportunity to thank the community that helped bring him home.
I tried to ask Milo Bear about his ordeal, but he looked at the microphone and turned away, possibly still too traumatized to talk about it.
