Dog walker Annette Poitras is known throughout her community. She was having an ordinary November day walking her three dogs in the Canadian wilderness until the weather became treacherous and things took a drastic turn for the worse.
After she didn’t return home, her husband Marcel was worried and he called the police, resulting in a search and rescue mission to find the dog walker and the dogs.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
When they finally found the group three days later, rescuers came across something they had never seen before.
Typical Day
56-year-old Annette Poitras built a reputation in her community thanks to her love for dog walking and she managed to make a career out of it. She was familiar with the nearby hiking trails, especially the paths around Coquitlam’s Eagle Mountain, and she would spend her days walking her dogs there.
Image via @Annette Poitras Collins/Facebook
Monday, November 20 started off like any other day and Annette was headed out to Eagle Mountain with her three dogs, but things were about to be anything but typical.
Heading Out
As the dog walker did almost any other day, she headed out on a walk with three dogs: her dog, a Collie named Chloe, and two of her client’s dogs: a Puggle named Bubba and a Boxer named Roxy. And before heading out the door on her walk, Annette said goodbye to her husband Marcel.
The dog walker had only planned on being gone for about an hour, and like she usually did—she didn’t tell her husband where she was headed to. But when lots of time passed and she didn’t return home, her husband started to worry.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
What could possibly be taking her so long?
Stormy Weather
For Marcel, time was passing by so slowly and it was starting to get dark. But Annette still hadn’t returned home and he was getting more and more worried. He couldn’t help but wonder where she was and what was taking her so long.
His anxieties were only worsened when the weather took a turn for the worse and a storm called Pineapple Express came in, bringing massive rainfall.
Image via @Marcel Poitras/Facebook
His wife was still out there and it was dark and stormy—the weather conditions were not safe for anyone. Why hadn’t Annette returned home?
Concerned Husband
So, when she still hadn’t returned home by nighttime, Marcel went to the area where she usually went walking and he found something that could give him a clue about her whereabouts—her van. But the van was empty—Annette was nowhere to be seen.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
After not hearing from his wife and finding her empty van, Marcel contacted the authorities to let them know that Annette hadn’t returned home from her walk earlier that day and that she was missing.
Search and Rescue
From there, a plan was made by the Royal Mounted Police and the Coquitlam Search and Rescue Team (SAR). Marcel did his best to help in the search, telling them the areas that she frequented, but there was only so much he could do—the wilderness was huge and there was no way to limit the search.
They were looking for anything—a cellphone, articles of clothing, dog leashes. But they came up empty.
Image via @CoquitlamSAR/Twitter
What’s worse is the storm was getting worse and there was still no word from Annette. Things weren’t looked good for the dog walker, or the dogs for that matter.
Sound Sweep
After receiving a call from the concerned husband, SAR set up a command center on Westwood Plateau. They were ready to get the search underway and they needed to move quickly because the area around the plateau consisted of many trails and it was getting dark outside.
And so, SAR started their search with a technique known as a “sound sweep”, which used
whistles to make noise in hopes of getting the dog walker or the dogs’ attention. They also used search dogs from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
But after the first night, they came up empty. They didn’t find Annette or the dogs. And time was of the essence.
Increasing Manpower
SAR scoured every known and newly-discovered trail in Eagle Mountain. They had over 100 rescuers and helicopters and they were now focusing their efforts on the sky and land.
Screenshot via Vancouver Sun/YouTube
While search and rescuers were looking for Annette on land by foot, an Air One police helicopter was busy scanning the area from the sky with a thermal imaging camera, hoping to detect body heat from Annette or the dogs.
Sky and Land
But the Air One police helicopter came back with nothing. The tree coverage was too thick and the storm wasn’t dying down anytime soon, making it impossible for the helicopters to pick up anything.
They failed to detect heat sources from Annette or the dogs.
The odds were looking bleak and the situation was becoming more dire as time passed by.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
While this was a huge setback, the search and rescue team wasn’t going to give up that easily. They weren’t going to stop their search until the dog walker and the three dogs were found—dead or alive.
Nighttime
As the second day was coming to an end and the sky darkened, rescuers had no choice but to postpone the search until the next morning. The weather was becoming more hazardous and the terrain was treacherous, making it dangerous for the search and rescue team.
With the conditions being too severe to continue the search, it was difficult not to give up hope. Even if Annette would be found, what condition would she be in? It was freezing cold and the rain wasn’t stopping anytime soon.
Screenshot from Global News
But they were about to get a tip that would change the rescue mission.
Helpful Tip
Annette had been missing for two days and things were looking bleak for the dog walker. But then a useful tip came in that helped narrow the search.
On Monday afternoon, a man named Marc Herr stopped for a cigarette while driving in the mountains and he happened to spot Annette!
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
At the time, he thought nothing of it, after all, she was just a dog walker walking her dogs, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. So what changed?
300 Search and Rescuers
By now Annette had been missing for three days and on the third day, they added an additional helicopter and two more SAR dogs. Over the course of the three days, over 300 search and rescue workers were part of the mission to find Annette and her dogs.
On Wednesday, roughly 100 people were involved in the operation and they were finally about to get a big break.
Screenshot from CTV News
During one of the sound sweeps, they decided to go out a few extra miles and that’s when they finally heard a response. Could it be Annette?
Cry for Help
At around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the SAR team heard a response while doing a sound sweep. In the distance, they heard cries for help and loud barking.
“Immediately we heard a loud yell,” volunteer Aidon Pyne told CTV Vancouver. “It went from just nose down, working hard to cheering and getting over there to help out.”
Screenshot from Global News
Now that they made contact with the dog walker, they weren’t aware of her condition and they had no idea what to expect. Nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to see.
A Bad Fall
Now that we’ve talked about Marcel and the SAR team, let’s go back to Monday when Annette headed out for her walk with the dogs. What could have possibly gone wrong?
Well, while waking Chloe, Roxy, and Bubba, the storm started and Annette ended up slipping on a log.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
But it wasn’t just any slip—she couldn’t get back up. The dog walker had hit her head and fallen so hard that she knocked herself unconscious. We can’t even imagine how scary that must’ve been!
Blacking Out
By the time she woke up, she had no idea how long she had been out, but she couldn’t find her phone or her gloves. It was no longer dark outside—it was now light out—she had slept through the night. Annette was disoriented and she was struggling to move, but the first thing she did when she woke up was making sure all of her dogs were okay.
That’s when she discovered that one of the dogs was missing and so was her phone.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
She had no idea what time it was or how long she had blacked out. But she knew that she couldn’t leave until she found the missing dog.
Off-Limits Area
After Annette responded and the dogs started barking, the search and rescue team could finally narrow down the search. They ended up finding her in a marshy basin—an area that was off-limits to hikers and dog walkers, far north of where she had been reported missing Monday afternoon.
Screenshot from Global News
And when the rescuers finally found her, they couldn’t believe what they saw—the dog walker and the dogs were lying in a hole.
Survival Skills
Annette had learned a survival tip from one of the dogs.
“She happened to notice one of the dogs was digging a hole to sleep in,” Marcel shared with Global News. “[The undergrowth], it’s very spongy, it soaks up a lot of water. So she 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. She learned from the dogs.”
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
How genius! It’s probably how she managed to stay alive for three days and two nights while out in the freezing cold, rainy weather.
Working as a Team
Over their three days in Eagle Mountain, Annette and the three dogs did whatever they could to keep each other safe—they took care of each other. Annette even gave her coat to the Boxer named Roxie to keep her warm.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
“[At] one point, the last night—when it was torrential rain—the short-haired boxer, [Roxy], was cold, so [Annette] took off one of her rain jackets to put over the boxer. To keep it warm,” Marcel shared with Global News.
Keeping Each Other Safe
While Annette took care of the dogs, they also helped keep her safe. The dogs didn’t leave her side and they made sure she was okay.
“One of them was cuddling [her] and one of them was on guard and the other one was looking for food,” Marcel told Global News.
Screenshot from Global News
While Annette and the three dogs had taken care of themselves until now, it was time for the rescuers to take over and get Annette and the dogs out of the wilderness.
Bubba, Chloe, and Roxy
Now that Annette had been rescued, there was still one thing left to do—rescue the three dogs who helped keep her alive!
Two more helicopter trips lifted out the dogs. Bubba the Puggle was the first rescued and then Chloe the Border Collie and Roxy the boxer were brought to safety.
Screenshot from “Missing dog walker found alive after two days lost in Coquitlam back country” via Vancouver Sun/YouTube
Luckily, Annette and the dogs didn’t have any severe injuries. It was nothing short of a miracle that they all were in such good shape after being missing for three days in the wilderness.
Happy Reunion
The dogs were reunited with their worried owners and they couldn’t have been more appreciative of Annette’s dedication to keeping them safe.
“I so appreciate everything that’s been done and all the efforts,” Janet Kilberg, one of the dog owners told CTV Vancouver. “Annette is a good friend of mine and I wish her well, and I hope that she can get back out walking real soon because all the dogs love her.”
Screenshot from CTV News
Bubba’s dog owner, Tina Presley told the news outlet that Annette is “a dog whisperer,” and added that “you see the love in her eyes.”
Keeping Hope
Did Marcel ever give up hope that his wife was going to come home? Well, he never lost faith that she was going to be found alive.
“She’s a tough cookie,” he told Vancouver Sun. “I knew. There was no question in my mind.”
While things were tough, on the day that she was rescued, Marcel had a feeling that she would be coming home that day.
Screenshot from CTV News
“I’ve had some dark days here. [But] I woke up this morning and I just knew it, I knew she was coming home today,” the husband shared with CBC News.
Giving Thanks
Of course, this happy ending wouldn’t have been possible without the 300 search and rescue workers who spent three days looking for Annette. After Annette was released from the hospital, the first thing she did was thank them for their hard work and dedication.
Screenshot via @CTVNewsBen/Twitter
“First response team I want to thank. Search and rescue everybody in the community, just strangers. I’m just so glad to be alive. I’m just so happy,” she tearfully told CBC News after leaving the hospital.
Nightmare Experience
Annette still struggles with the events that took place that November and she has nightmares about it. She hikes the mountains every day, but she stays away from the area where she slipped.
“I am not ready. It gives me shivers. I don’t want to relive it,” she shared with Tri-City News.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
Even though she’s not ready to relive it, Annette, with the help of her husband, and an author named Anne Bruinn, pieced together a 130-page narrative of the events that happened that day titled, Three Dog Nights: The Search and Rescue of Annette Poitras. Some of the proceeds from the book were donated to the Coquitlam Search and Rescue.
Local Celebrity
While Annette isn’t ready to relive the events of that terrifying experience, her story made the news and went viral. And since then, Annette’s become a local celebrity in her community. She’s been recognized as “the dog walker”.
The dog walker can no longer go for walks on the trails with her dogs or run errands without people stopping her.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
“People come up to me and they want to hug me,” Annette shared with The Tri-City News. How sweet is that?
Being Prepared
Even though Annette has become a local celebrity, she hopes that her story can be an example for people and teach them the importance of being prepared while exploring the wilderness. As she knows all too well, the weather can change in an instant and it’s important to be equipped for any situation while hiking.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
“This could happen to anyone. Many people can learn from my experience and they can be better prepared in the back country,” the dog walker shared with Tri-City News.
Happy Ending
Dog walker Annette Poitras went for a walk with three dogs on what seemed like an ordinary Monday in November, but things quickly took a turn for the worst when she didn’t come home.
Thanks to the countless effort and hours that the Coquitlam Search and Rescue team put in over three days, there was a happy ending to this scary, grim situation. This story is nothing short of a miracle and it could happen to anyone.
Image via @AnnettesDoggieDaycare/Facebook
If you learn anything from this—always tell someone where you’re going and be prepared when going for a hike.