While out on a walk in the snow with his owners, they told Newsweek, a Bernese mountain dog named Bunsen took off, refusing to listen to them—what he led them to has shocked users across the internet.
In a viral Instagram video shared on Thursday by Bunsen’s owners, under the username @bunsenberner.bmd, the pup can be seen running away as his owners follow him. At some point, he stops near another dog who is stuck in a drift, unable to move and very close to freezing to death.
“Four years ago our dog led us to a dying dog in the harsh winter. On a walk through our frozen farmland, our Bernese mountain dog suddenly took off. He bounded through drifts up our waist and refused to listen our recall commands,” the caption said.
It added: “I followed, and to my shock, he led us to a dog. It was slumped against a log. We were stunned. How did it get there? I called my wife for help. She and my son arrived with supplies and a sled 15 minutes later. We worked to earn her trust.
“My wife took the dogs back and my son and I made plans to sled her out. It was kilometers away from our farm and the sun was falling. The dog couldn’t stand. As a team we used the sled to move the dog to the warmth of our garage.”
Later, the family found a missing dog in their area on social media, and it turned out to be Bailey, the elderly canine that Bunsen had just saved from the Canadian cold. The dog had health issues and bolted from her family, and when she was found, she had been missing for 48 hours.
“Had Bunsen not tracked her and found her, she would have froze to death. In the end, she was reunited with her family. It was a happy ending. We worked as a team to save Bailey, but Bunsen was the real hero,” the caption added.
The poster, Jason Zackowski, told Newsweek that, by the time he and his son sled the pup back, which took about an hour, her family was on the way to collect her, and they couldn’t have been any happier.
“If this was our dogs—I would hope someone would do everything they could to save them. We were willing to get snowmachines down into the creek or build a winter campsite if we couldn’t get her out,” he said.
“Dogs are the best thing in this world, and we were not going to let the dog die. That being said, if Bunsen hadn’t led us to her, we never would have known she was there. He is our hero.”
The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 1.1 million views and more than 135,000 likes on the platform.
One user, Desoto_lady, commented: “Bunsen, a true superhero without a cape. He’s amazing.”
Edythelattanzio posted: “Your dog deserves a lot of recognition for his acts of heroism! Twice!!! So glad Bunsen found Bailey in the snow!”
Jaredthedood wrote: “This is an awesome story. Good job Bunsen!”
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