Pup is found in a bizarre place

When Elvis, a Loxahatchee dachshund-chihuahua mix, went missing for a few hours, his owners thought for sure he’d return.

After all, he occasionally broke out of Claudia Campbell’s 5-acre farm in the gated Deer Run neighborhood in Loxahatchee near Lion Country Safari, but always returned in a few hours panting and thirsty.

But last week Elvis left the building — and didn’t come back.

“When he wasn’t back (by night), that’s when I started worrying,” said Campbell’s daughter, 11-year-old Sasha, to whom Elvis bonded when he was adopted with his brother Ollie two years ago from Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue.

Frantically, the family posted fliers around their neighborhood the next few days. They drove neighboring streets with the windows down, hollering for Elvis. They posted about Elvis in the Loxahatchee Lost and Found Pets Facebook group, where the post was shared more than 200 times. Campbell and her daughter, Arabella, 13, took Ollie for a walk along a nearby canal, hoping the dog could lead them to his brother.

A woman even called Campbell on Thursday to say she had seen Elvis that morning. “I don’t know what dog she saw,” Campbell said. “But it gave us hope.”

Little did the Campbells know the answer to the mystery was right under their feet the entire time.

Elvis it turns out had not left the building — he was under it.

Friday morning, Campbell was in her barn’s tack room and heard whimpering and called her friend and boarder, Heather Sarchi, for help.

“I said, ‘I think he’s under the ground, I think he’s under the barn,’ ” Campbell said. “I felt so helpless.”

Campbell called Palm Beach County Fire Rescue for help. Crews dug into the compact dirt of the stall next to the tack room and soon heard movement and more whimpering: Yes, it was Elvis. And yes, the small, spry dog was stuck under the barn.

“Everyone was so worked up,” Campbell said. “I was crying. It was just unbelievable.”

The crews dug two holes, and Elvis’ face appeared after they removed a few shovelfuls of dirt from the second hole. “When we saw his little head poke out, we were all in tears,” Sarchi said.

He was filthy, hungry, thirsty and had a small sore on one of his legs. But after a bath and some food, Elvis was back to his adorable self.

Campbell thinks Elvis was chasing a rat and followed it into a hole started by another one of her dogs, a terrier mix. But Elvis obviously took things much farther than his buddy.

She brought Elvis and Ollie in the car to pick up Sasha from school and surprise her. Sasha said when she got to her mom’s car, she saw her filming and wondered what was going on. Then she looked in the back seat.

“I jumped into the back and hugged him and kissed him,” she said. “I was so happy to see him.”

Now that Elvis has settled in, the family said there is one element of his personality that seems to have changed because of the experience.

“He hasn’t tried to get out at all,” Sasha said. “And he won’t leave my side. I’m calling him the miracle pup.”