When Sandy Harris set out for South Carolina’s Jones Gap State Park that hot July day, she imagined a peaceful outing filled with waterfall hikes and time immersed in nature. What she didn’t expect was to end up saving a dog’s life.
The temperature was already pushing 90 degrees, and Harris had almost decided to head back when she felt an inexplicable tug to continue just a bit farther along the trail. Rounding a bend, she spotted a stunning German shepherd lying quietly in the brush.
The dog didn’t make a sound as Harris approached with caution. That’s when she noticed the injury — a wound on the dog’s leg.
A wave of dread hit her. The shepherd couldn’t walk, there was no cell service in this remote stretch of trail, and the trailhead was still two miles away. Harris knew she couldn’t carry a seventy-five-pound dog all that way, and daylight was fading fast.
The exhausted animal looked up at her with soulful brown eyes. Harris offered her some food and water, reassuring her that she’d return the next morning. Then, reluctantly, she began the long trek back down the steep, rocky path.
Once she reached an area with service, Harris posted online, asking if anyone was missing a German shepherd. Her message connected her with Luci Daley, a volunteer dog tracker, and with Marcy Dimmick and Holly Jones from a foster-based rescue organization.
The following morning, the four women set out together, carrying a stretcher, pain medication, and food — all hoping the shepherd had survived the night and was still waiting for them.
They would learn later that the dog’s name was Koco. And though she was alive, they didn’t find her alone.
Partway up the trail, they encountered two hikers — Kyle Morgan and Dillon Tatum — sitting beside the fluffy shepherd. The men had stumbled across her earlier and had refused to abandon her. Taking turns, they had been carrying Koco down the mountain.
“She was nervous at first and wouldn’t take any food or water from us,” Morgan later explained to Jones. “Some other hikers helped get her onto my shoulders in the beginning, and she was perfect… I’ve never known a dog who would let me do that before.”
Once reunited, the rescue team splinted Koco’s leg and gave her pain relief. Jones, who is president of Labor of Love, later told The Dodo that the shepherd must have been enduring “excruciating pain” judging by her injuries. “I honestly don’t know how much longer she could have lasted,” Jones admitted. “She was completely spent.”
Even so, Koco remained composed. She allowed them to carefully position her on the stretcher. With safety finally within reach, she drank some water and gazed calmly ahead.
“Everyone described her as calm and grateful,” Jones said. “It was like she understood that every single person there was working to help her.”
The two-mile hike out was far from easy. Rocks, tangled roots, and a steep descent made carrying the stretcher a challenge, but every person’s focus was on getting Koco to safety.
“It’s such an adrenaline rush,” Jones recalled. “You lose track of time because you have only one goal — getting this dog to safety.”
It took almost three hours to carry her to the parking lot and load her into Jones’s car, followed by another hour’s drive to the veterinary hospital. The entire trip, Koco stayed quiet, as if relieved to finally be sheltered from the elements.
X-rays revealed her leg bones were shattered. Surgery was performed later that week, and the resilient shepherd is now on track to make a full recovery.
Despite the heat, the pain, and the jolts of the rough trail, Koco’s gentle temperament never changed. She had been wearing a collar, which is how they learned her name, but she had no microchip and no one ever came forward to claim her.
For now, Koco is recuperating with a loving foster mom who dotes on her. At first, she was quiet and reserved, eating in her crate and going about her day without fuss. But little by little, her personality is beginning to shine.
“She’s more affectionate now… starting to get playful,” her foster mom told Jones. “She doesn’t bark, complain, or whine. She loves peanut butter, treats, rolling around on the floor, and getting belly rubs.”
Whatever her past might have been, Koco is bravely embracing a future filled with comfort, care, and companionship — leaving behind the isolation of the mountains and the dangerous trail where she was found.