Young dog found after 19 days lost in cold woods

SARANAC LAKE – A young German shepherd named Apollo spent 19 days in the woods behind Lake Colby after running off during a walk.

Apollo’s owner Lexi Deseraie spent weeks posting in local social media groups, asking people to keep an eye out for a white German shepherd. Hundreds of people told her they were keeping their eyes out. More than two weeks after Apollo ran away, he was found and brought back home through what Deseraie called a massive “community effort,” a “blessing” which restored her faith in humanity.

Apollo’s leash slipped out of the hands of her husband, Joe, while they were running on the Adirondack Rail Trail behind Lake Colby on Dec. 28 and he bolted with his leash dragging behind him. Apollo’s a very young, timid and skittish dog, Deseraie said, just 9 months old and turning into a teenager as he goes through puberty.

In the following weeks it was raining, snowing and freezing. Temperatures ranged between 45 and 0, but were mostly below freezing.

As Deseraie’s family worked through the grief and got the word out, she said messages poured in – people were looking for Apollo, people were comforting her family. Hundreds of people helped, in big ways and small, she said.

Her mom gave her trail cameras. Amy Gonzalez and Laura Curley, who live on the Lake Clear end of the rail trail went out looking, covering more ground than Deseraie could. Local scientist Brendan Wiltse flew a thermal drone in his spare time. Maryellen Decker saw Apollo on one of her trips specifically looking for him, and left Deseraie a wooden arrow pointing to his tracks. Brooke Gallo with the Tri-Lakes Humane Society offered help.

“This dog brought a community together,” Deseraie said. “I’m so grateful to be a part of a place that grabs your hand, and pulls you out of the darkest storms.”

“Thank you again to everyone who played a role in saving him, no matter how big or small,” Deseraie wrote on Facebook.

With all of the people sharing her post about Apollo, word got to Alfie’s Rescue in Glens Falls and Jen Atchinson from the organization for lost animals reached out to offer advise and lent Deseraie trail cameras.

Apollo was Deseraie’s first dog since childhood. He was given to her and Joe by a breeder Joe worked for. They were “sick with worry,” she said. Deseraie works nights and spent her days out on the trail, getting wet, calling for Apollo, leaving broken-up treats on the trail leading back toward the lake.

His last known location was on the Adirondack Rail Trail between Lake Colby and McCully Pond. This area is in the heart of state land with not many houses nearby and lots of water bodies. He was found on Forest Home Road, so he didn’t travel far, it seems.

“I wish he could tell me,” Deseraie said.

On Jan. 17, she got a text from a former coworker, Jess Tennant, that her father, Eric Ohmann, saw a hungry-looking shepherd on Forest Home Road. Ohmann tried to get Apollo and another man tossed Apollo some McDonald’s burgers and tried to lure Apollo into his truck. But Apollo wasn’t willing to get in. Eventually, Deseraie’s grandfather, who lives nearby, showed up and threw a coat over Apollo’s head to get him secured in his truck. She met them at the High Peaks Animal Hospital in Ray Brook.

“Oh my God. You should have seen the dog. He instantly knew it was me. He started jumping, yelping with excitement, doing little circles,” Deseraie said. “It was adorable.”

Sara Burke in Sugarbush donated bacon, which Deseraie cooked on Forest Home Road the day before Apollo was found. She thinks this might have helped draw him there.

Apollo was in survival mode and Deseraie said he was likely seeing people as threats. He was already skittish before then. But after weeks in the woods, he was approaching people.

“Oddly, he loves people now. He’ll go up to everybody. He’s super-friendly,” Deseraie said. “He’s a lot more mature from the experience . ... He acts like he grew up.”

She had given up hope numerous times on Apollo coming back alive.

“My hope and faith in Apollo returning has dwindled to barely existent,” Deseraie wrote on Jan. 7. “Just realistically he’s probably gone. And it breaks my heart.”

She kept having nightmares of him dead and covered in snow. She kept having dreams that he was alive and lost.

“I’ll never forget how stupid it was to get annoyed at the dog for chewing up shoes and stuff ... ’cause I’d prefer him home and chewing my shoes than this,” Deseraie wrote on Jan. 14.

She was down on herself, regretting not putting a GPS on him, regretting not staying in certain areas and secondguessing her decisions. It was 19 days of distress and heartbreak. There were days where Deseraie said she would cry nonstop in the bathroom to hide from the kids.

“I thought he was dead,” she said. But then someone would send her a message – telling her about a potential sighting or a survival story and telling her to not give up hope F”– and that would pick her back up. She said this kept her driven.

She said the community was “the only thing” that got her through.

“I’m so grateful to be a part of a place that grabs your hand, and pulls you out of the darkest storms.”

Lexi Deseraie Lost dog Apollo’s owner