Dog lost on Lake Michigan paddles back to land, and family

A pup almost lost to the waves had a happy reunion with her family after she fell off a boat in the churning waters of Lake Michigan in Benzie County.

The family said they didn't see Roxy go overboard and couldn't even place where it might have happened as they headed north from Frankfort while on vacation July 26.

They searched for five hours looking for the 1-year-old cinnamon-colored goldendoodle, said Kim Oberman in a Facebook post. The Coast Guard and "2 amazing jet skiers" pitched in to search.

Oberman, whose Facebook page says she's from Chicago, told the (Benzie County) Record Patriot that they had no idea when Roxy went missing and it could have been anywhere in the six-mile span since leaving Frankfort to head to Leland.

As the waves built and conditions became too dangerous to continue, Oberman and her family docked their boat and called on others to help in the search on land, in case Roxy went missing before they boarded the boat.

Another boater gave the family his car keys so they could drive around and search beach towns to the north. Others walked the beaches "looking for our baby," Oberman said in her post.

"These all were strangers but I swear they were angels sent from God," Oberman said.

Searchers found Roxy the next morning just south of Pointe Betsie, north of Frankfort in Benzie County, "hiding in a row of bushes."

“We came across that break wall, and we heard a dog barking," Lori Sarya, who owns Jacobson Marina with her husband John, told the Record Patriot. "We thought maybe it was somebody’s house, and her little face popped through the bushes. I was shaking so terribly, because I couldn’t believe it.”

Oberman herself marvels at the turnout for Roxy.

"We posted on Facebook, and it was shared 700 times," she said.

When she was found, Roxy still had her life jacket on, "safe and sound."