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The ingenuity of a Boy Scout from Hawaii helped save a couple and their injured dog after they got lost on a hiking trail in Oahu. Aimee and JD were hiking the Waimano Trail with their pitbull Smokey when they took a wrong turn.
The couple ended up on a different trail, which is longer and more difficult. They did not have any cell phone service and did not have enough food or water. Things got even worse when Smokey injured his paws and was having a hard time walking.
Luckily for the couple, 12-year-old David King and his mom, Christine, happened to be hiking on the same trail. David and his mom could see the couple was in distress and asked if they needed any help.
"We asked, 'oh do you need any help?' They said, 'yeah,' they showed us the dog's paws had some cuts on it. So, it hurt when the dog would walk. When the dog would walk, it would just be really painful," David told KHON2.
JD was trying to carry Smokey on his back but was struggling because of the dog's weight. David suggested building a stretcher so they could carry Smokey through the woods. He found a big tree branch and broke it in half, and then fed the two pieces through the armholes of his t-shirt.
Christine told the station they weren't sure the make-shift stretcher would work but were glad when Smokey cooperated and sat down.
"It was his idea to make the stretcher. We didn't think it would work because we didn't think the dog would get onto the stretcher. Smokey was just very happy to get on the stretcher. We just carried him out," Christine said.
Even with the stretcher, carrying Smokey through the remaining three miles of the trail was not easy.
"It was really tough, but we rotated," David said. "Sometimes we did four people, two on each side, two people — my mom and the man — and then the dog would get off and walk some, which was really helpful and let us relax."
Eventually, they made it out of the woods and got Smokey to a veterinarian for treatment on his injured paws.
"I think that when you help someone out, it's like joy in you that just like you know, you did something good that day," David said.