Minnetonka teens doggedly pursue pet lost in BWCA

The five teenage boys were setting up their tents in the Boundary Waters at an island campsite when they noticed a message scrawled in ash on a rock: Lost Dog. Named Tomah. Call DNR. A leash was left nearby.

That's when the eight-day canoe trip for five members of the Minnetonka High School cross-country team turned into a dog-rescue mission.

After five days of paddling, the boys had a rest day on Monday, exploring the large island and collecting firewood.

"We figured the dog was long gone," said Jonny Croskey, 17. "If the owners couldn't find it, we figured we never would."

Then they caught a glimpse of the Shetland sheepdog, or Sheltie, and forged numerous attempts to capture the fleet-pawed pooch.

"We tried to flush her out two or three times, but of course she'd run away," Croskey said. "She was really fast and kept juking us and running back into the woods."

The boys could run all day as cross-country captains, but Tomah could navigate the lower brush with ease until the boys gave up and went into their tents to sleep.

Tuesday morning they saw Tomah sleeping in a nearby grove of trees, skittish and shaking with fear. They slowly moved in and grabbed her, fashioning a rope harness.

They plopped her in a canoe, paddled back to the pickup point and took Tomah to the U.S. Forest Service station in Tofte.

Not far away in Lutsen, 18-year-old Ashley Ross was trying to smile as she sold tickets at the Alpine slide ride. Her dad, Mike, had given her a puppy six years ago when his Army Reserve deployment in Tomah, Wis., ended.

"She's my baby," said Ashley, a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth. "She was the kind of dog you never had to worry about."

Until last weekend. Ashley, her family and her trusty Tomah took a canoe trip to an island campsite. On Saturday, "she kind of disappeared."

On Sunday morning, Mike Ross said a prayer for the lost dog. They broke camp and left.

On Tuesday, Ashley's father arrived at her job site at Lutsen.

"He didn't think a phone call could do it justice," she said. "For my dad to show up at work, I figured it was bad news."

But when her father walked around the corner, she caught a glimpse of Tomah and ran for an emotional reunion. By then, the Minnetonka boys were halfway home, feeling pretty good about their rescue mission. Tomah had been on her own for three days.

"When we had to leave, my husband said a prayer, and God answered it by sending the five of you," said Kelli Ross, Ashley's mother. "Tomah is home safe with her 'girl,' our daughter, Ashley, again. And we are eternally grateful."