Family Dog Protects Missing Toddler For Seven Hours Until Rescuers Arrive

Cooper the dog is a hero today, after the family dog protected a North Dakota toddler who wandered off from his family farm and was lost overnight.

The boy, 3-year-old Carson Urness, was reported missing from his family’s farm in Cooperstown at close to 7:30 pm. Search crews gathered quickly to look for the boy as the sun went down and temperatures started to drop.

“ATVs, horses, and more footwalkers showed up,” Sheriff Robert Hook told CBS News. “Even the neighbors, business owners and bankers. They just came out and thought they needed to help.”

They had quite a bit of ground to cover. The Urness family farm stretches across 2,000 acres, and police even called in a small aircraft in an attempt to cover more ground.

But the search was turning up nothing overnight, and police decided to send home the searchers.

“As the night went on, there got to be a little more moisture in the air and at about two in the morning the rain was coming down and we were at the point to send the footwalkers home. There was nothing more for them to do,” Hook said.

But just as they were getting ready to go home, one of the search crew members spotted the family dog.

“Pat (one volunteer) went over the hill and shot his headlights and Cooper stood up just enough to let him know he was there,” said Carson’s mother, Courtney.

They found that the family dog was actually protecting the toddler, curling up on top of the boy to keep him warm during the cold and rainy weather.

“The child was laying underneath the dog, he thought he was probably sleeping,” Hook told the news station.

A doctor checked out the boy but found that he only suffered cold feet. The family dog had kept the toddler warm, and quite possibly saved his life, the doctor said.