Sisters Abigail and Cecilia Bourg, 7 and 4, were playing with their golden retriever Artemis in the backyard of their St. Tammany home when they decided to follow the dog into the woods.
Man's best friend helped save two young girls after they wandered deep into the Louisiana woods and lost their way.
Sisters Abigail Bourg, 7, and Cecilia Bourg, 4, were playing with their golden retriever Artemis in the backyard of their St. Tammany home when they decided to follow the dog into the woods.
Things soon took a turn, however, when the sisters lost their direction in the deep woods. For five hours they waited as rescue workers and their frantic parents desperately searched for any sign of the group.
In the end, Artemis saved the day.
"Your mind just starts going to the worst places," mom Annie Bourg tells Inside Edition's Ann Mercogliano. "I jumped to, 'Oh my gosh, did someone drive up here and take all of them.'"
Mom quickly put out a video on Facebook asking for help and alerted the police, who organized search efforts.
At the same time, the girls had wisely remained in the same spot where they snuggled up to Artemis, according to their father.
Then, when rescue workers got close, Artemis sprung into action and alerted them to the location of the girls.
The good news soon made its way to mom and dad, who were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
"I think I cried all the tears that exist," Annie says. "It was a rollercoaster of emotions."
The girls did not seem very impressed with their time in the woods, noting that there was lots of "mud" and "trees."
They spent most of their time snuggling up with Artemis to keep warm. "He never left their side," the girls' father says of the loyal family pet.
Turns out this dog is also little girls' best friend.
