Obie weighs fifteen pounds. Lake Forest Subdivision in Daphne is a lot bigger than that.
He got out at 9:30 on a July morning. By afternoon his family had the problem every pet owner dreads — a small dog, a big neighborhood, and a storm building over the bay. A dog that size does not cover ground in straight lines. He tucks in somewhere quiet, which makes him nearly impossible to spot from a sidewalk and exactly the kind of warm little signature a thermal drone pet recovery search is built to find.
We set up that afternoon and put the drone in the air. On the first set of batteries — before a single pack swap — there he was on the screen: down in the creek.
Lost at 9:30 in the morning. On our screen by the first battery. Home by 6:30 that evening, right before the storm hit.
The update we posted that night is still one of our favorites:
“Obie is home!!”— Closer to Heaven, the same evening
That is the entire post. Some days this job does not need more words than that.