WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — After a nearly weeklong search, Athena found her way home to her Florida family in time for Christmas Eve and even rang the doorbell.
Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15, prompting a search among the community and nearby towns for her. Her owner, Brooke Comer, said her family left for church that day and got a message from her neighbor with a picture of Athena outside the house.
Comer panicked. Her family rushed home to find her collar in the crate and no visible opening Athena could have gotten out from. How she escaped remains a mystery.
The next week's events continued to be an “unbelievable” story for Comer, where neighbors and community members from nearby towns would contact her from her missing dog ads and send any footage or photos where they may have spotted Athena. Based on all the alerts Comer got, it looked like Athena made a nearly 20-mile (32-kilometer) roundtrip while she was missing.
At every alert, Comer and her family would go to the spot within minutes and search for Athena — to no avail.
“She was the hide-and-seek all time grand champion,” Comer said. “With every sighting my heart jumped, and it honestly was excitement and then your heart's crushed because we were always one step behind.”
The entire search was a terrifying and scary experience for Comer, who was worried about where her already skittish dog could have gone or could have encountered. That was until 2:30 a.m. Christmas Eve, when she got a Ring video notification from her doorbell and her other dog began barking.
“I was kind of like in a daze, and the dog was barking, and as soon as I heard that ring, I looked at my phone and you could see in the video it was Athena and she was jumping at the door, ringing the doorbell,” Comer said.
As soon as Comer opened the door, Athena bolted inside and went to go lick her son's face, who was on the couch half-asleep. After that, she immediately grabbed her ball to play and shortly went to her cage to go back to sleep.
Comer said the experience gave so much hope because of the neighbors and the large community looking for Athena for the past week. The next plan was to get Athena a full exam, flea and tick treatments and a microchip.
Stephany Matat, The Associated Press