After a search that lasted almost a week, Athena found her way home Florida family Just in time for Christmas Eve and the doorbell to ring.
Athena, 4 years old German shepherd The Husky Mix ran away from her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on December 15, prompting a search for her by the local community and nearby towns. Her owner, Brooke Comer, said her family left for church that day and received a letter from her neighbor with a photo of Athena outside the house.
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The next one panicked. Her family rushed home to find her collar in the box and there was no way Athena could get out of any visible opening. How she escaped remains a mystery.
The events of the next week continued to be an “unbelievable” story for Comer, as neighbors and community members from nearby towns contacted her with missing dog ads and sent any snapshots or photos in which they might have seen Athena. Based on all the alerts Comer received, it appears that Athena traveled approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) round-trip while she was missing.
This photo submitted by Brooke Comer on Friday, December 27, 2024 shows Athena, a 4-year-old German shepherd and husky mix, returned to her family's Florida home in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve 2024 by the phone ringing the doorbell, ending a group search. It continued for more than a week among her community. (Brooke Comer via AP)
Upon each alert, Comer and her family would go to the site within minutes and search for Athena, but to no avail.
“She was the grand champion of hide-and-seek the whole time,” Comer said. “With every sighting my heart would jump, honestly it was exciting and then your heart would break because we were always one step behind.”
The entire search was a terrifying and frightening experience for Comer, who was worried about where her already skittish dog might go or might run into. That was until 2:30 am christmas evewhen she received a Ring video notification from her doorbell and her other dog started barking.
“I was kind of in a daze, and the dog was barking, and as soon as I heard that ring, I looked at my phone and you can see in the video that it was Athena and she was jumping at the door, ringing the bell. The doorbell,” Comer said.
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As soon as Comer opened the door, Athena rushed in and went to lick her son's face, who was on the couch half asleep. After that, she immediately grabbed her ball to play, and quickly went back to her cage to go back to sleep.
Comer said the experience gave a lot of hope because of the large search by neighbors and the community for Athens over the past week. The next plan was to have Athena get a full checkup, flea and tick treatments, and a microchip.
