When Atlas, a two-year-old black Labrador and shepherd mix, escaped from his owners during a hike at McCullough Gulch on June 6, they never could have imagined that it would take until after Independence Day for them to be reunited. 

They certainly never could have imagined that rescuing Atlas would require the efforts of three dozen volunteers from Summit Lost Pet Rescue, nor that their dog would lead rescuers on one of the most difficult missions in the organization’s history. 

But Atlas did just that, embarking on a harrowing journey that — rescuers estimate — led the dog to cover about 300 miles of ground before returning home. 

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On July 5, 29 days after the initial escape, Atlas’s owners Andrew and Joy Wobido would finally be reunited with their beloved pet. 

“We did have one volunteer from Summit Lost Pet Rescue come to meet us at the McCullough Gulch parking lot, and something that she told us really stuck with me. Her message was to be patient,” Andrew said. “I didn’t think it’d be (almost) 30 days, but it prepared me for, ‘Well, this could take a while.'” 

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Atlas’s escape 

The Wobidos had adopted Atlas less than a month before their routine hike turned into the start of the dog’s nearly monthlong journey across Summit County. 

It was — at first — a perfect day, Joy recalls. Atlas had been adopted from the South, and it was his first time seeing snow before. 

“When we got to the top, the two dogs were just running and running and running in the snow,” she said. “They were just so happy. It truly was the best day. I was like ‘This is what I have been looking for — two dogs like this who love the outdoors and love to run.'”

The day took a turn when another group along the same trail scared Atlas, and he ran off. 

“Even though we only had him three weeks, it was just very out of character. There were zero red flags that any of this could have ever happened,” Joy said, explaining that Atlas was a “velcro dog” who never liked to leave his owners. 

At first, Joy and Andrew tried to find Atlas themselves, to no avail. 

“We looked for him for a long time,” Joy said. “He was like a ghost. He was gone.”

So, she hiked downwards, looking for cellphone reception to call the Summit Lost Pet Rescue for advice. Meanwhile, Andrew stayed on the trail searching for Atlas. 

“We knew that we wanted to contact the rescue group, but we didn’t realize how involved they would be,” Andrew said. “Once they fully engaged, we had this army of volunteers and people that were willing to help us. That was amazing.”

The journey home

Summit Lost Pet Rescue first started putting colorful signs around town, hoping to increase awareness — and therefore, sightings — of Atlas.

“We started putting up the neon signs that help us get the community knowledge and get community involved,” said Sam Harris, a team leader with the rescue group. “We run primarily on sightings, so a mission like this has as many sightings as the community has. It helps us narrow down where Atlas was and where he’s going to be next.”

According to a list of sightings provided by the Summit County Rescue Group, there would be about 47 total sightings of Atlas throughout the mission. 

“The theme throughout this mission is that we kept on getting sightings at different places across Breckenridge, Blue River and even Frisco,” said Greg Schoenfeld, another team leader for the rescue group. “We would constantly adjust, send people into the field, renew signage that had been taken down in different areas, renew postings on Facebook and social media, just to get more eyes into the field.”

The dog was spotted in construction zones, as well as resorts, businesses and in private backyards, reported to the rescue group via Ring camera footage. He was also seen on the trail cameras that Summit Lost Pet Rescue has purchased and installed to help with their rescue missions. 

Each time the dog was spotted, the Wobidos’ emotions ran high. 

“I had kind of a baseline of sadness and stress, that was my floor,” Andrew said. “It would tick up when we got a sighting and then would tick down.”

Through it all, he said the rescue group brought him and Joy comfort. 

“They were our emotional backstop during this entire period,” Andrew said. “They became like our family.”

At some of the more promising sighting locations, the group set traps, hoping to catch the elusive mutt. 

“We set up a live trap, which is a crate with a release door on it that the dog walks in and they hit a release button halfway through it. When they do that, it closes and pushes them into the trap further,” Harris said. 

Some of these traps yielded no results. Others accidentally caught wildlife, like foxes, that wandered in by mistake. These animals were immediately released by members of the rescue team. 

Trapping Atlas

On June 6th, the Wobidos and rescuers received a notification in the live chats being used to communicate about Atlas. A trap set near the Shock Hill neighborhood had caught something. 

Joy had just left to travel for work. She had considered cancelling the trip — she wanted to be home when Atlas returned — but thought there was no way that volunteers would catch the dog while she was gone, given how long they had been trying with little success. 

Andrew told her to go, and that he would stay in case Atlas was found. He said there was “a little bit of pessimism” in their conversations at that point. 

When the first trap notifications came in, he said he tried to distract himself, in case it was another fox. 

“I’m trying not to get too excited, so I’m not looking at the camera. This could be a fox,” he said. “And then it’s like ‘Oh my gosh, he’s in there. We got him.'” 

Joy — who was still en route to Denver International Airport — decided to come back to Summit County while Andrew and Harris immediately made their way to Shock Hill. 

Family reunion

After 29 days, Andrew and the rescuers laid eyes on a trapped Atlas — about 10 pounds lighter, but safe. 

Still, the mission wasn’t quite complete. Rescuers needed to make sure that Atlas wouldn’t run again.

“What’s really important is we don’t want to release a dog that’s been on the run back into the wild, so we have to physically move the trap in a vehicle to a secure location where we can open the trap without any risk of losing the dog again,” Schoenfeld explained. 

But once the trap had been moved, Atlas was released back to Andrew and Joy’s arms. After a lengthy period in the wild, they worried that the dog’s personality would have changed. 

“Was he going to be aggressive? Was he going to try and bite us? Were we going to have to go through starting over with him?” Joy said they wondered. “The rescue kept telling us ‘No, he should go back to normal.'” 

The Wolbidos say that Atlas was back to normal immediately. One of the only changes they’ve observed in their pet has been his weight loss, which, Schoenfeld said, was impressively slight. 

“At 10-plus miles a day, we calculated that he was burning about 3,000 calories a day, and he only lost 10 pounds,” Schoenfeld said. “We also calculated that he was consuming about 2,200 calories a day on average, which is pretty amazing. …  He clearly was looking for anything and everything he possibly could eat.” 

The one other change that Andrew and Joy have seen in Atlas since his return is a welcome one. 

“Atlas has turned into a 75 pound lap dog,” Andrew said “When he got home, he just wanted to be touching you and we were happy to do it.”