Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 16, 1993                   TAG: 9309160314
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: N-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HIKER RESCUES LOST DOG ON APPALACHIAN TRAIL

Recently while my husband, Phil, his daughter, two grandchildren and I were hiking on the Appalachian Trail to Hayrock, we lost our dog, Rex. We tried unsuccessfully to find him.

The next day, I received a phone call. Thomas Colier, a 19-year-old resident of Buchanan, had found Rex while hiking on the Appalachian trail. He had checked Rex's identification tag. Also, he discovered the pads on Rex's paws were bleeding.

This compassionate young man, who is small in stature, carried this 65-pound dog a mile on the trail. Because of the heat and humidity, though, Thomas wasn't able to carry Rex any farther. Thomas gave Rex some water, tied him with some of his camping gear and then walked three miles to the nearest phone.

Thomas insisted on returning with us to get Rex.

We were lucky to find a man who let us use his private road on this mercy mission and were able to get our truck within a mile of our destination. After hiking the last mile to where Rex was tied, we gave him more water and put socks on his paws. Rex could walk on level ground, but going downhill hurt his paws, so Thomas carried him.

Thomas, an avid fan of the Appalachian Trail, was on his last hike before returning to Mary Washington College. He had started on the trail the previous day but forgot his medicine and had to return home. Once he ran into Rex, his hike was delayed again.

Our dog is OK now, and we feel very lucky that a good Samaritan like Thomas found our dog. We just wonder how many 19-year-old men today would cancel their hiking plans and spend six to seven hours on a hot, humid day getting a strange dog to people he didn't even know.

Thomas said the most important thing was we had our dog back. He lost a dog when he was a boy and never got it back. He said he knew how we would feel.

There are still good, young, caring people in this world. So many times we just hear about the bad ones.

We met a good, decent, kind and compassionate young man in Thomas Colier and just wanted to share his good deed with others.\ Elaine Newton\ Daleville, Va.