Washington Woman Quits Job, Takes 57 Days To Find Her Lost Dog, Katie

A dog-smitten woman in Washington state quit her job as a postal carrier and spent 57 days searching with her husband for their beloved lost border collie, Katie. They finally found Katie thanks to the help of a community of strangers in a small town in another state.

Katie managed to escape from a hotel room in July during a trip to Montana with owners Carole and Verne King. Though the dog loves people, she’s also skittish and was lost in a strange place near the vast open space of Glacier National Park — so the Kings knew they faced a challenge.

They reached out on social media, posted hundreds of flyers in the small town of Kalispell, tirelessly fielded calls, and drove and walked for miles, yelling Katie’s name and whistling, KCRA-TV reported.

Carole King finally spotted her a week ago in the shade of a tree with the help of strangers who pointed Katie out. “I just bear-hugged her,” she told the Daily Inter Lake newspaper. “People are stopping in their vehicles, getting out and hugging us. I think the whole neighborhood knew that we found her.”

When King took the dog to a vet clinic, “the doctor walked up to her and she said, ‘Is this the famous Katie?’ And her eyes welled up with tears,” King said. “That touched me.”

Katie had lost 12 pounds, was severely dehydrated and was on the brink of starvation — but she’s expected to completely recover.

“I never gave up. I never lost hope,” King told the newspaper. “I think what I got out of this was the kindness of strangers.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.