Dog's Barks Lead Rescuers To Owner, Woman With Dementia Missing 3 Days

KATY, TX — There are many people who contributed to this story’s happy ending, but the top dog is, in fact, a dog — the black Labrador retriever Max, who remained glued to Sherry Noppe’s side the entire three days she was missing from her home in the Houston suburb of Katy.

“The dog is really the hero,” Jeff McShan, the public information officer for Harris County Constable Precinct 5, told Patch. “The dog stayed with her the whole time.”

And when the rescuers, using a drone that detects heat, closed in Friday on the spot in the 7,800-acre George Bush Park where the 63-year-old woman was lost, Max barked.

And barked and barked and barked without ceasing.

Any disappearance is worrisome, but the situation involving Noppe, 63, was especially so because she has dementia. They were found around 3 o’clock Friday morning. Noppe was checked out by her doctor, and Max by a veterinarian. Both are home and doing fine.

“Oh my god, that dog,” Noppe’s daughter, Courtney Noppe, said at a news conference later that day broadcast by Houston news station KHOU. “He saved her life. That dog … I feel like he’s the community hero. He truly saved her life.”

“That dog had no leash, no collar and he stayed by her side for three days, and that just shows you the loyalty that dog has,” added her brother, Justin Noppe. “He was never going to leave her side.”

The local fire department plans to name Max an “official fire dog” at a ceremony once things settle down for the Noppe family. Max already occupied a place of honor in the Noppe family.

“Max was our brother's dog, he passed away two years ago," Justin Noppe said at the news conference. "He's the last thing that we really have of him. To get them both back is a silver lining.”

Max shares the spotlight with Noppe’s neighbors and other volunteers, local businesses, other law enforcement agencies, members of Texas EquuSearch and track dog companies assisting in the search. The Find Sherry Facebook group swelled to 9,200 members.

“The community came together at the drop of a hat for us. We felt the love and all the support, and we really just want to thank everyone,” Justin Noppe said, adding that because of their efforts, the family was reunited for Mother’s Day.

“Our mother would not be here if not for this whole community,” Courtney Noppe said at the news conference. “Again, from the bottom of our hearts, we can never forget, and just know that, if anything like this ever happens to y’all, we will be there in the front lines with y’all. … We know what it feels like.”

And if Noppe’s neighbors are heroes, so is she.

The area where she was found was a “super thick” and “marshy” part of the woods where “you can walk 50 feet … and get turned around,” family friend Michael England, who assisted in the search, told news station KHOU.

“She knew she was lost, but I was amazed at how strong she was,” England told the news station. “She wasn’t severely disoriented and out of it, but definitely lost … She didn’t know what to do.”

There’s one more hero: A deputy shed his boots and gave them to Noppe so she could get out of the marshy area where she’d spent the last three days, said McShan, the Precinct 5 spokesman.

The community of Katy is stronger for the experience, he said.

“It makes you believed in humanity again,” he told Patch. “It’s been such a tough time. Things like this bring communities together, keep you going and give you hope that the next time somebody goes missing, we’ll be able to find them.”