A three-day search for a missing Texas woman led to her rescue thanks to a goofy — and heroic — Labrador retriever.
On May 5, two search dogs alerted to her scent. Searchers that evening picked up from where the dogs left off. Hours later, as they neared a thickly wooded area in George Bush Park in Houston, they heard a dog barking.In the wee hours of the morning on May 6 — two days before Mother’s Day — Noppe’s younger daughter Courtney grabbed her phone as it rang.
“My mom is doing great,” she told TODAY. “She had a bunch of cuts all over and she was suffering from dehydration, but at this point, she’s back to normal. Everything’s healed up really well. She’s in good spirits." “Where they were located, there’s lots of wild hogs out there. And snakes,” she said. “It was his bark that they heard, and as they got closer, he kept on barking at them.”“We feel like he was awake out there the entire time for three days — wide awake, protecting her,” Jessica Noppe said. “When they left, he had a leash and collar on. And when they came back, his leash and collar were both gone. So he stayed with her the whole time with no leash and no collar on.
The family is thrilled to have Sherry Noppe back home and, of course, Max himself. He started out as a hunting companion to one of Noppe’s sons, who passed away in 2019.