Pepper is a homebody. Pepper’s a 10-year-old German Shepherd who lives with the Adams in the tiny village of Rankin Inlet on the Hudson Bay in remote Nunavut, Canada. And she’s a homebody. She’s a familiar sight, always lounging in front of the Adams house.

Donna Adams said, “She just likes to laze around. We used to get a lot of charges from the bylaw for having an untied dog, but even I think they gave up too, because she doesn’t go anywhere!”

Pepper’s no Balto. She avoids the treeless tundra surrounding Rankin Inlet at all costs. “The land freaks her out, like it’s too quiet,” Adams said. “There’s nothing around, she’s too big and slow to catch siksiks [ground squirrels] … no people and nothing around — that’s what bothers her.”

Then tragedy struck the Adams family: they heard a family member had died in nearby Whale Cove. With the funeral coming up, they needed to decide how to get to the even smaller town, further down the coastline.

The Hudson Bay coastline zigzags in huge bays and is so cold, rocky, and impassable that the norm is to take a 44-mile shuttle flight in a bush plane that can cut a straight line between these two towns. The Adams booked a flight, but at the last minute it was cancelled. The next morning, they decided to take their snow machines and convoy across the tundra. Dad and one of the kids had to stay behind, so they planned to take care of Pepper.

As everyone else loaded up, Pepper wasn’t having it. Adams said, “She was really, really trying to follow us. She even hopped on the sled. We told her to get off and go inside, go home…I think she felt the grief or the trauma that we were feeling. She just knew something was up, and she didn’t want to leave us.”

The family finally set out–without Pepper–and made it to Whale Cove safely. Then they got a phone call: Pepper had disappeared. The folks back home had searched high and low. Adams said, “They looked everywhere.” But the family was preoccupied with the funeral and eventually, “We just let it go. We kind of just accepted that, well, she’s gone.”

Days later, a stray dog wandered into Whale Cove. Townspeople sent around a picture of her, and the Adams couldn’t believe their eyes. It was Pepper. She had survived the tundra. It must have been a harrowing journey. Adams said, “She looked a lot, like 10 years younger — because she lost a lot of weight!”

Pepper’s arrival was just the comfort the grieving family needed. “I burst into tears the moment I saw her. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that. Just burst in tears of joy.”

The German Shepherd is of course the talk of both towns. Now she’s safely home, lazing outside the house in Rankin Inlet. It looks like her wandering days are over.

“Everybody was so happy to hear of the story. I mean, especially on her own, completely on her own! And she’s never been taken to Whale Cove with us before…We were all so excited, and relieved — and very proud of her.”

Donna Adams