Family dog who went missing after a car crash shows up to herd sheep on a random farm two days later

A car accident separated a 2-year-old Border Collie and Heeler mix from his family. Two days later, the dog named Tilly was found starting a new life among sheep on an Idaho farm! Linda and Mike Oswald were only a few minutes into a road trip from Hayden, Idaho, to Everett, Washington, when they got into an accident on the state highway near Rathdrum, Idaho. A car slammed into their SUV and their dog was thrown out. While no one was seriously injured, the canine ran away as fast as he could across northern Idaho’s Rathdrum Prairie.

“I tore off after him, but he soon disappeared and we couldn’t find him,” said Oswald, 68, to The Washington Post in 2021. “We spent the next 10 hours looking for him and I was worried I’d never see him again. I was so upset—Tilly’s my baby.” In an attempt to find Tilly, she put up a Facebook post saying, "We have not found our pup Tilly. We are offering a reward. He is shy so please pm me or contact via FB if you see him or contact KC or PF animal control or humane society. He may be in Rathdrum. He is a reddish-brown male with back markings on his face. He has medium-long fur and a bobtail. He was last seen running across the Prairie at Hayden Ave and hwy 41. Mike and I were in a car accident today at Highway 41 and Hayden. We are good but my dog Tilly is missing. He was thrown out and was seen running north. Please share." At the time, an Idaho State Police notice was also put up on the North Idaho News Facebook page requesting everyone in the area to be on the lookout for the dog

Two days later, much to everyone's surprise, the dog was found safe and sound. Three brothers with a farm in Rathdrum noticed an extra sheepdog in the field. Their Australian Shepherd looked a little different, they thought, only to realize there was an adorable intruder in the mix. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, where did this dog come from, how did it get here?'” one of the brothers Travis Potter said, according to the Spokesman-Review. “I think that dog was trying to herd.”

After finishing his temporary job as a working sheepdog, Tilly was safely returned to his family. It was all thanks to the social media post about Tilly that the Potters knew this was the dog the Oswalds were searching for. “He’ll herd anything,” Oswald shared. “When I go to the dog park, he tries to herd the people into one group.” The couple couldn't be more grateful for having their sweet pooch back home. 

“I just cried every day,” Oswald said. “It was ridiculous, but you get so emotional over your pets.” The best part of it all was watching a community come together to help find Tilly. “All of a sudden, I think people saw a time to really jump out and help, even if it was just a small thing like finding a dog,” Oswald said. “There’s a lot of kind people out there.”