Last week, Krusty was homeward bound at last

By Tony Fuller, KTVZ.COM

To the surprise and delight of its owners, back home in Nevada after their vacation's sad ending, a 9-month-old puppy was rescued from beneath an abandoned trailer east of Millican, leading to a joyful reunion back in Bend late last week.

However, nobody is sure how the small dog got from Bend to Millican, 30 miles east of Bend on Highway 20.

"Are you tired?" owner Samantha Cheng said, holding Krusty in her arms.

And he's one lucky dog, according to Becky Vaughan of Horizon Pet Services in Bend.

"With coyotes, it's just amazing he survived" out in the desert, she said. "He's just a little guy, and he definitely could be lunch for a coyote."

The Elko, Nev. family lost Krusty when he got out of his create, though they are not sure where, having packed him up in Bend noticed one of their two dogs missing when they stopped at the Millican Store.

They turned around and retraced their route, looking for Krusty, even spending the night in Bend and "looked all over," also posting flyers in Bend and Redmond

Cheng's son, Andy, was scared they'd never see Krusty again. "I felt like he was going to die," he said.

Though it's unclear how he got out in the desert, by the time Vaughan went to rescue him, he was glad to see her, though weak. She crawled under the trailer and put some food and water out for him.

"As soon as I did that, he immediately jumped into my arms," Vaughan said.

However, he got loose, the family is convinced Krusty must have tried to follow them east, into the desert. They believe he walked 30 miles, to where he was found. He'd been missing since July 8, more than three weeks before the happy news of his rescue.

"I never thought that I'd find him," Cheng said. He'd lost a lot of weight and was very hungry and thirsty, of course, but in pretty good shape, all things considered.

When he heard the news of Krusty's rescue, Andy said, "It made me happy. It made me almost cry."

Tthe initial report of the dog being spotted at the trailer east of Millican came from the land owner, who made an unsuccessfu attempt to catch him. That's when horizon pet services was and called to pick him up.