Leesie is home.

After seven weeks of roaming in and around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness near the Gunflint Trail, a German shepherd named Lessie is out of the woods. Leesie was found near Ham Lake and the edge of the BWCA Wednesday, Aug. 21.

The circumstances of how Leesie exited the wilderness are matched in their prodigious nature only by the dramatic events leading to how the dog entered the BWCA region near the Gunflint Trail. On June 28, Leesie ventured into the wild country near the Gunflint Trail after emergency responders were paged to an overturned silver Toyota Highlander on the Gunflint Trail near the intersection of Gunflint Trail and South Gunflint Lake Road.

According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the jaws of life were used and cut the car into pieces in order to remove the driver of the vehicle. Leesie was a passenger in the vehicle and fled from the scene during that process. She’s been roaming the BWCA ever since.

Jennifer Cadigan is the president and operations director for The Retrievers, a nonprofit group based in Minnesota dedicated to helping people find their missing dogs. The Retrievers help people find missing dogs, including a recent story of a Cook County woman who lost her dog near Ely. Paddle and Portage spoke with Cadigan at 10 p.m. August 21 about Leesie being found near Ham Lake and returning home. Listen to the full interview in the audio shared below.

Cadigan posted this Wednesday night: “All sightings had dried up on this girl and I was worried. It took a while but one day the ranger station called and said they had seen her run past the eastern most campsite on Ham Lake. The next week a camper called and said they had seen her on Ham Lake too. I started planning but trapping a dog between the Gunflint Trail and the BWCA isn’t a quick or easy task. Joel Allen reached out and asked about any sightings. He knew the area, he’s an experienced camper and he was willing to move his life around so he could spend 5 days camping with the goal of bringing Lessie home. Joel has helped on a few Retrievers cases so I trusted him. I told him where she had settled. We talked about hand catching and he did some reading on his own. Plans were made. I knew as I watched him and his dog Rainey head out on Sunday that he would be successful. He was calm, he was patient and he was kind. He saw her the first night but she kept a good distance. He didn’t scare her. He left some food and let her see he was safe. He built her trust over the next three days and on the fourth day (after paddling out and driving to Grand Marais to get more food) he was able to leash her! She relaxed and allowed him to pet her. He took her for a little test walk and she did well. The easiest way for our girl to get home was a long walk to the road to meet her mom. Joel made sure she was leashed securely and off they went. Leesie was willing but slow, so they took it slow. When she saw her owner she was cautious but soon realized who it was and she exploded with glee! Joel, I will always be thankful for you. You are a hero! You saved this girl! I don’t even have words to express what this means to me, to Leesie and to her family. Again I will simply say thank you for being a helper. Welcome home, Leesie! We love you.”