It was a happy reunion in Habersham County for a Monroe, Georgia, teen and her beloved pet. Stiles, a 4-year-old black lab mix, ran away after he and his owner were involved in a wreck on April 6 in Habersham County.
The wreck injured three people, including Stiles’ owner, 17-year-old Aurora Mata.
“Stiles became startled when a volunteer removed him from the car. He nipped at the man holding him and ran off toward the storage facility,” says Mata’s mom Liz Stern.
Stern says Stiles, too, was injured. His leg was bleeding when he ran away.
For days they searched the area near where the wreck happened at Habersham Mill Road and Highway 115 west of Clarkesville.
“We looked all day and knocked on doors and walked the woods and pastures of the homeowners who granted us permission,” says Stern. The family contacted local animal shelters and posted photos and information about Stiles to several lost pet pages on Facebook.
After all that searching and growing more desperate by the day, Aurora finally found Stiles
in the woods in a pasture just a few hundred yards from where the accident happened.
Best friends
Stiles was just a puppy, and Aurora was 13 when she adopted him from the pound. Until the wreck, they were inseparable. “They are together all the time. She trained him all by herself,” her mom says.
Aurora describes Stiles as “a very sweet, smart dog who wants to be friends with everyone he meets. He is very energetic and playful, but he knows when to be calm. He also gets quite nervous when I’m not around. He’s honestly just like my best friend.”
Aurora’s faithful four-legged friend has been a great emotional support for her. Losing him like that was heartbreaking.
This weekend, Aurora’s dad had planned to mail 600 flyers to residents in the area, hoping someone somewhere could help find Stiles. Fortunately, that’s no longer necessary now that Stiles is back home with his best friend.
“He’s very shaken up but he’s resting now,” says Stern. And his family is resting easier, too.
This story has been updated