But a Christmas miracle came early for the Nichols family when their 9-month-old Jack Russell, Ruger - affectionately known as Roo, was found alive and completely unscathed 24 hours after he tumbled from the vehicle.
The pup’s owner, Sharon Nichol, told The New Zealand Herald her two teenage children and her father were preparing to take Roo on a walk around the Hanmer Heritage Forest in the North Canterbury town on Thursday.
Nichol said that as the trio were leaving, her son, Cam, carefully tied Roo to a clip on the back of her father’s Hilux.
But when they arrived at the Heritage Park, Roo was nowhere to be seen.
There was no sign of the small pooch and the family were devastated.
“It was just a really horrible situation, I just felt sick and because I’m still in Christchurch working, getting through the last of my work before Christmas, I just felt helpless, like I just couldn’t do anything,” Nichol said.
Then, when all hope felt like it was fading, Sharon received a message, suggesting she contact Don Schwass, who runs the Nelson Search Dog/Tracking Page.
Schwass, who has a background in tracking from 30 years of search and rescue land tracking experience, told the Herald he first began helping people find lost dogs 20 years ago.
“He rang me and asked me to send him a pin drop of the start and finish points of the journey that they took in the Hilux, and he came back to me this morning with an idea of where Roo would most likely be found,” Nichol said.
“Part of his theory was Roo was unlikely to be in the area of the Hanmer Springs Village, based on the fact that no one had seen him,”
Sharon’s father, a Hanmer local, also played a major part in finding the young pup.
“My dad, in an absolute piece of brilliance, decided to contact the local police officer to see if they had any camera footage of the road where they were travelling yesterday morning - and they found footage of the truck with the dog on it and without the dog.”
The CCTV footage helped narrow down the search to a few 100 metres.
It was then, after 24 anxious hours, that Cam found Roo at Dog Stream Reserve under a log, inside the Hanmer Heritage Forest.
“It was probably a 60 or 70km trip and he would have landed on the road but he’s literally got nothing, no injuries, no scars or anything, he was just a little bit hungry,” she said.
She told the Herald about how she felt when she heard Roo had survived.
“You know that feeling when you have a near miss in your car and it’s like your body is just flooded with adrenaline and relief,”
“[I’m] just massively relieved, so proud of my dad and both of my kids, you know, they just didn’t give up looking for him.”
People who wish to support Schwass’ efforts tracking down lost dogs can donate at his Givealittle page, https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/help-us-to-help-you-or-someone-close-to-you.
