A Woman Lost In The Wilderness Saw A Dog Digging A “Hole,” And Then The Reality Became Clear

Things look bad for Annette Poitras. She is lost in the Canadian wilderness with three dogs for company. The weather is atrocious, with rain that just won’t stop. And she is starving and dehydrated too. The dogs are up to something, and when she looks closely, they seem to be doing something more helpful than Annette could’ve ever imagined.

Caught off guard...

It’s a truly remarkable tale that had everything — from drama to sweat-inducing suspense. So we hope you’re prepared for what’s to come, folks! For Annette, though, there’s no way she could’ve predicted what eventually happened during that scary spell in the woods. She wasn’t exactly a stranger to the terrain.

A beloved figure

A resident of British Columbia, Canada, Annette was part of a loving family back home. She had a spouse in the shape of Marcel Poitras, as well as a daughter. Plus the mom was well regarded in her community thanks to her love of dog walking. She even made a career out of it.

Knowing the area

So Annette was pretty familiar with the nearby hiking trails, seeing that she often traversed them with local pooches. The paths around Coquitlam’s Eagle Mountain were no different. But as winter closed in toward the end of 2017, the dog walker’s knowledge of that particular area went out the window.

How the drama started

Let’s set the scene. On the afternoon of November 20, 2017, Annette headed out to Eagle Mountain with three dogs. The first of those was Chloe: her pet collie. As for the other two, Bubba the puggle and Roxy the boxer belonged to different owners, who had handed them over to the canine walker.

The pivotal moment

Anyway, all appeared to be well as the quartet traversed the paths, with Annette keeping a close eye on the animals. At that stage, it looked like a pretty standard stroll for the dog walker. Yet everything changed when a member of the group suddenly broke away from the beaten track.

Giving chase

Hey, it can happen, right? As any dog owner will tell you, they don’t always stick to the paths! So Annette gave chase to the boisterous canine, hoping to get the walk back on track. Unfortunately, though, her plans quickly fell by the wayside both figuratively and literally at that point.

A costly fall

You see, Annette lost her balance during the pursuit and suffered a nasty fall. The impact of the landing left the mom with an injured back and a sore side. But that’s not all. On top of that, her phone went missing after she hit the ground as well. Talk about bad luck!

Time to leave...

Thankfully, Annette was still able to move around a bit despite her injuries, but one thing became quite clear: this walk was over. She needed to leave the woodland and get those scrapes checked out pronto. On that note, the British Columbia resident rounded up the three dogs for the return trip.

Here comes the rain

Here’s where it all started to unravel, though. Coupled with Annette’s injuries, the weather took a turn for the worse after her tumble too. Yes, rain pelted the path relentlessly, making it a lot more hazardous than usual. Due to that, the dog walker couldn’t go back the way she came.

Hunkering down

So Annette was essentially stuck. There was no way she could take a chance walking the now-treacherous trails given her less than stellar condition. With that in mind, the mother stayed put in the area where she suffered her fall. The three pooches also sat with her as evening started to draw in.

Concern

Meanwhile, away from the wilderness, concern about Annette and the dogs’ well-being began to ramp up. With her phone gone, Marcel nor anybody else could get in touch with her. We can only imagine how they were feeling at that stage, especially as it got darker. Where might she be?

The search begins

Marcel eventually contacted the authorities later that day when there was still no sign of Annette. From there, a plan was put together by the likes of Coquitlam Search and Rescue and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With the tools at their disposal, they hoped to locate the missing dog walker as soon as possible.

A helping hand

But it wouldn’t be easy — after all, where could you start? Well, the authorities were given a helping hand by a guy named Marc Herr. Just before Annette left the trail to pursue the runaway dog, he noticed her from his car. He was taking a smoke break at the time. How fortunate!

Speaking up

Speaking to the CTV News website in November 2017, Herr recalled the moment when he was made aware of the search for Annette. He said, “I saw it on the news and [thought], ‘Oh my God.’ I’d seen her and the dogs.” After that, he quickly contacted those in charge of finding the mom.

Challenges

Thanks to Herr, the search parties now had a specific section of the woodland to comb through. Make no mistake, though — locating Annette would still have its challenges, given how vast and dangerous the terrain was. Plus she didn’t stay in the same spot on her second day out there.

On the move

You see, after sleeping under the stars on that first evening, Annette noticed that she was down a dog again. So the walker had to summon a lot of energy and grit to pick herself up off the ground. Just like people were out searching for her, she now needed to follow suit to find the missing canine.

A lucky break

Off Annette went then, hobbling across the tricky terrain with her two other furry pals. Could she locate the dog? Luckily, the group headed in the right direction, as they approached some power lines. The pooch soon reappeared, much to her relief. Her stress levels must’ve been off the charts!

Out of time

Mind you, whatever positivity Annette was feeling during that spell quickly evaporated. Why? Simple — after making her group whole once more, she couldn’t continue mapping out a potential escape route. Time had defeated them, meaning another evening out in the Canadian wilderness was on the cards. Home was still a long way away.

No headway

And the mood outside of the woods couldn’t have been much better. Despite sending out a pair of helicopters, several “all-terrain vehicles,” drones, and a search party of over 100 people, the authorities struggled to pinpoint Annette’s location. The weather was an additional problem as well, bringing things to a standstill for a while.

Hunger and thirst

We wouldn’t have blamed Marcel for feeling downhearted at that point. After all, his missing wife wasn’t just battling the elements, she had no food or drink to keep her strength up either. Along with her injuries, that was an incredibly bad mix. So time was very much of the essence.

An unexpected lesson

Yet as the authorities and search parties continued to press ahead against the awful conditions, Annette did receive some unexpected help when night drew in. Who from? The dogs, of course! Yes, she realized that her canine pals were doing something that she could replicate while hunkering down to rest.

“Digging a hole”

Marcel went into more detail on that front during an interview with Global News in November 2017. He informed the Canadian station, “[Annette] happened to notice one of the dogs was digging a hole to sleep in. [The undergrowth] is very spongy; it soaks up a lot of water.”

“Learned from the dogs”

“So [Annette] started sweeping away all the brush and everything to get down into the dirt, and kind of made herself a little well to sleep in,” Marcel continued. “She learned from the dogs.” Wow! Talk about teamwork. The animals really stepped up here, even if they weren’t fully aware of it.

Lifesaving?

It might’ve even saved Annette’s life. Hey, that’s not as bold a claim as it sounds. Think about it — by staying dry across the night, she gave herself a better chance of avoiding issues such as hypothermia. And on top of that, Marcel also noted that it hadn’t been as cold in the freshly dug holes.

A breakthrough!

Anyway, let’s switch our focus to the third day of the search now. Even though Annette and the dogs were still hanging in there, they realistically couldn’t spend much more time out in the woods. Something had to give, and soon. On that note, at around 11:00 a.m. on November 22, 2017, the breakthrough was finally made.

Successful “sound sweep”

Yes, as a “sound sweep” was being conducted with whistles and cries along the trail, Annette overheard the commotion. The relief must’ve been palpable. Her nightmare was ending! To shed some light on what happened next, Michael Coyle spoke to CTV News. He was the boss of Coquitlam Search and Rescue.

“Very chatty and very happy”

Coyle said, “At the end of one of those segments, [a search party] heard [Annette] replying and they heard the dogs barking joyfully. She was very chatty and very happy to see the searchers, but very wet and in a lot of stress from being out in the cold that long.”

The rescue

From there, Annette and the dogs had to wait a little while longer before they could be lifted out of the woods. The mom was up first, as she got attached to a harness hanging from a helicopter. Once she was unloaded by a medical team, her furry pals then took the same trip.

How was Annette?

It was quite a sight for the surrounding onlookers. But that’s got us wondering — what kind of state was Annette in after the dramatic rescue? Marcel offered some insight about that while chatting to CTV News, providing a vivid description of his wife before she got to the nearby hospital.

“White as a ghost”

Marcel said, “[Annette] was white as a ghost. [The medics] couldn’t find any veins to give her any intravenous in the van. They needed to get her warmed up a little bit more. But she’s doing great.” As for her injuries, Annette luckily didn’t break any bones from the earlier fall.

A miracle?

It’s fair to say that things could’ve been a lot worse for the dog walker! Al Hurley certainly thought so, as Coquitlam Search and Rescue’s search manager spoke to CBC in November 2017. He said, “It’s a miracle to me that she seems in pretty good shape.” Hurley also explained how the helicopters managed to miss Annette before she was rescued.

Obscured

Hurley continued, “It was extremely wet and slippery [in the woods], with very thick underbrush. The [infrared sensor] was out with the helicopter yesterday and didn’t pick up any body heat, so that’s how thick the brush is.” What about Annette, though? Did she spot the aerial support from the ground?

So near, yet so far

According to Marcel, the answer to that is an emphatic yes. You see, Annette apparently noticed one of the helicopters on her first night in the wilderness. Yet as Hurley just noted, the tree coverage was so thick that she couldn’t catch their attention. That must’ve felt like a gut punch, right?

The importance of Annette’s phone

Still, Annette wasn’t too disheartened by that early setback. But the loss of her cell phone really made things difficult as the hours rolled on. As Marcel told Global News, “She knew [the search parties] were out there. She had no phone on her. She had no way of telling the time. She doesn’t have a watch; she just uses her phone.”

“I’m spending another night out here”

“Yesterday just before [Annette] was found, she didn’t know what time it was,” Marcel said. “[And] her thoughts were, ‘I’m spending another night out here.’ She had been positive at that point, [but] that was really starting to crush her.” You can hardly blame her for that! We’d be much the same.

Getting the dogs home

Thankfully for Annette and the three dogs, though, that didn’t happen. Sticking with the canines, they also made it out of the woods unscathed, as their relieved families embraced them. We can’t forget about the torment those folks went through during this ordeal. Imagine losing a pet in that manner!

Unbridled praise

Anyway, off the back of the rescue, Marcel was desperate to hail the work of the search parties as well. Annette’s husband said, “They would drop anything to give me an update, show me what was going on. Communications were great. The people in the field, it’s obvious you love what you do.”

“Support them”

“These people are doing this on their own time,” Marcel added. “They’re leaving their job, what they get paid to do to pay their mortgage, to come out and help people who need their help. Support them, they deserve it, and thank you.” The mayor of Coquitlam praised those guys in a heartfelt social media message too.

“This could happen to anyone”

So we’re left with just one question now: what happened to Annette once she recovered? Well, the dog walker had a book written about her ordeal in 2018, titled Three Dog Nights: The Search and Rescue of Annette Poitras. Speaking after its release, she told Canadian newspaper Tri-City News, “This could happen to anyone. Many people can learn from my experience and be better prepared in the back country.”