Monday's Australian Story is bound to draw a big audience.... with a doggie story behind the headlines.
"I got sick of phone calls. TV stations everywhere wanted to talk about Valerie." - Michael Pengilly, Kangaroo Island mayor.
How hard could it be to find a lost sausage dog? And how far will a small community go to help?
When Georgia Gardner and Joshua Fishlock lost their beloved dachshund Valerie on South Australia's Kangaroo Island in late 2023, locals didn't think the pooch would survive more than a few days.
"I remember standing there and there were three eagles up in the sky and I said to them, ‘I don't know that your dog would have made it past them,'" recalls local wildlife rescuer Jared Karran.
The close island community did what they could to help find Valerie but eventually Georgia and Joshua had to return home empty-handed.
"We kind of went through all the five stages of grief," Georgia tells Australian Story.
"Not knowing what happened to her, where she was, that really was really, really hard."
Then, almost 500 days after her disappearance, Valerie was spotted bolting through a paddock. The news spread like wildfire, sparking media interest around the world.
"We didn't expect phone calls from the New York Times," says Joshua, "and we had to keep reminding ourselves that she hadn't been caught yet."
Jared and his partner Lisa came up with an elaborate plan to trap Valerie, but they were feeling pressure from the intense global interest.
"There are literally millions of people watching this," recalls Jared. "If we lose that dog, we are going to be the laughing stock of the world."
Dog Gone is a remarkable, heartwarming tale of survival, retracing Valerie's journey into the wild and back again and speaking with those who helped search for her and bring her home.
"It's incredible how many hearts Valerie's story has touched and the impact that she has made," says Georgia.
Producers: Rebecca Armstrong and Daniel Clarke.
