It was a frightening moment for these parents when they discovered their two young girls were missing from their home in Folsom, Louisiana. Fortunately, they did have a measure of comfort because they knew the family dog was with them.

It all began when Abigail Bourg, 7, and her little sister, Cecilia, 4, went missing from their rural home with the family’s Golden Retriever, Artemis.

Their home was located on six acres near the woods and their mom, Mary Bourg, searched everywhere for her daughters:

“I just start like running around the whole six-acre property and that’s when I called [my husband] and said, ‘They’re gone,'” Mary Bourg said about the moment she realized her girls were gone.

Concerned neighbors and the police began searching for the missing girls and didn’t immediately find them. Minutes turned into four hours before the search party heard Artemis barking.

When they were finally located, the two girls wandered over a mile from home. Their loyal dog stayed by their side and even laid on top of them to protect them when they got tired.

Artemis took his job as a protector very seriously. He even tried to protect the girls from the search team and wouldn’t let them get near when they tried to rescue the girls:

“He wasn’t letting them by the girls. He was circling them, growling at the people to protect them,” Bourg said.

The family was of course thrilled that Abigail and Cecelia were located safely. When they asked the girls how they had gotten lost, they said they were trying to keep up with Artemis, who kept running ahead of them.

“He kept running ahead of us. We were trying to follow him, but we couldn’t keep up,” Abigail Bourg said.

It seemed that the girls just wanted to follow their friend and the trio had wandered too far from home. Despite the girls blaming Artemis, their dad is happy he took good care of them.

Their dad, Justin, has forgiven Artemis for running off and says he’ll be getting a pass for any mischief he might get into:

“He’s got a free pass for a while,” Bourg said. “I won’t be fussing at him for chewing up blankets and shoes.”

Artemis is such a good boy for protecting his girls. Hopefully, he won’t be running off again. Thanks to the search team and the dog, this story had a happy ending and the girls returned home safe, where they belong.

We hope you enjoyed this sweet story. As always, please feel free to share with your friends.

EXPLORE MORE