A Higganum family has a lot to be thankful for this Christmas, getting their dog back after a sleepless night full of worries. The dog unexpectedly turned up close to home with a neighbor finding him Tuesday morning.
Bronco is an energetic golden retriever puppy that’s only a few months old. His owners, Justin and Anna Tralli cherish Bronco like a child. They were worried sick Monday afternoon when he was outside and got spooked by some trash cans.
“He just took off and there was no stopping him. He wouldn’t come back to any of our commands,” Justin Tralli said.
He says Bronco sprinted down High Street from their Higganum home before they lost sight of him as he went into the woods. He says after initially searching, he put out a call for help on social media and people in the area began helping, including next door neighbor Tom Thompson. They began closely searching the woods.
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“I went this way. They went that way, calling the dog and we stayed out there until right around 5 o’clock when we couldn’t see anything anymore,” Thompson said.
Justin Tralli says he was in contact with some dog finding volunteers and decided to search himself in the middle of night, hoping there would be some trace of Bronco. Tralli was worried about the cold and possible coyote danger.
“I actually found some of his tracks, so I started following those up one of the trails and when I lost his tracks, I actually stopped and built a little fire on the woods just hoping maybe he would come to me,” he said.
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But that didn’t happen, and Bronco remained missing until the sun came up Tuesday morning. Thompson says he called Justin to check in on the dog and while he was picking up firewood in the back, he noticed something by the wood pile.
“I kind of look forward, ‘Is that who I think? Bronco, is that you?’ And I wasn’t sure from the distance,” Thompson said.
That’s when Thompson realized it was Bronco and began calling him. When he got ahold of him, he immediately called the Trallis who were overjoyed.
“That image will forever be etched in my brain of Tom holding Bronco. I thought I was hallucinating,” Anna Tralli said.
While we may never know what Bronco went through while he was out in the woods, the fact that he was found so close to home is being called a Christmas miracle,” he said.
“He just got lucky. You know, we were really fortunate,” he said.
Now that Bronco is back in safe hands, the Trallis say they’re grateful for the community’s help-- especially Thompson’s -- and will be taking steps to keep Bronco from running away again.
“We’re going to be getting him a GPS collar and a very substantial electric fence,” Justin Tralli said.
