ohmidog!

A golden retriever named Buck who ran from his owners last summer after being spooked by a train whistle is back home in Washington state, thanks to several residents of rural Montana.

The 7-year-old dog survived despite spending six months on his own, and most of the winter exposed to heavy snow and temperatures well below zero, according to an Associated Press report.

“I’ve never had a miracle happen to me, so I don’t really know what to think,” said Kim Halter of Bonney Lake, Wash. Halter, her husband and two of their sons were on a family trip to Montana in August when they stopped at a rest stop underneath a railroad track along U.S. Highway 2 in the small town of Chester.

“We were under the trestle when the horn blew. When Buck heard the whistle, he took off like a shot. None of us even saw him,” she said.

After two days of unsuccessful searching and putting up posters, the Halters continued their trip without him.

Most of the family lost faith, but not her 17-year old son Jason, Halter said. “He would tell me all the time that Buck’s coming home,” she said. “He actually thought he was going to walk home like in (the movie) ‘Homeward Bound.’”

On Jan. 25, a day where temperatures dropped to 27 degrees below zero, Jason Wanken spotted a stray dog on his family farm  in Montana, just north of Chester. “We spotted this dog out here on the farm, just on and off, going through the creek and whatnot.” Wanken said.

Later in the week, Wanken brought some food to the dog, who had taken up residence under a collapsed building. Wanken’s mother had remembered the name of the golden retriever that had gone missing last summer and told Wanken to see if the dog would answer to the name Buck. With a bag of food, they were able to lure him into a crate.

The dog’s rescuers emailed some photos to the Halters. When they received them, Halter said, they started crying. Then they drove 750 miles to pick him up.