Dog protects boy who was reported missing for nearly seven hours. The 3-year-old toddler, Carson Urness was declared missing at their family's Cooperstown farm in North Dakota. at around 7:30pm in the evening on Monday during a thunderstorm, urging search and rescue operations that was composed of 200 people in order to find the child.
Sheriff Robert Hook gave statements in CBS News saying that, "ATVs, horses, and more footwalkers showed up", in attempt to look for the missing child. He also added that neighbors, business owners and bankers came to offer help on the search and rescue operations.
According to local TV stations, police authorities dispatched a search dog to assist people in the search operations at the huge 2,000 acres farm land, and also deploying a small aircraft that can provide aerial visibility support.
There was a point during the search operations that the volunteers was left with nothing more to do, Sheriff Robert Hook told CBS, "As the night went on, there got to be a little moisture in the air and at about 2:00am the rain was coming down and we were at the point to send the footwalkers home."
After almost seven hours of search, one of the volunteers was able to spot a German Shepard-Golden Retriever mixed dog near a hill, and discovered that the missing boy Carson Urness was crouched underneath the dog. The volunteer noticed that the dog protected the boy by using his body to shield the missing child from the thunderstorm.
The missing boy's mother, Courtney Urness, told WDAZ-TV, " You think of the worst, but then I knew Cooper (the dog) was gone. If anyone was going to find him, they'd just have to find Cooper."
The missing boy was found together with his dog roughly a mile away from the family's farm. The child, Carson Urness was brought to a local hospital after he was found as a standard procedure. The doctor who attended the child said that he was in good health, and that the boy was in perfect shape thanks to the dog that was able to keep him warm.
The missing boy's father, Brock Urness also told CBS News that he is thankful for everyone that had helped them search for his child saying "We're thankful for the police and local fire department here and all the people with horses and four-wheelers and the walkers, We're grateful that they all came and looked and helped us."
