RED DEER -- A couple of famous dogs based out of Red Deer, Alta. put their instincts and intelligence to work to help rescue a missing pet.

On a cold Sunday evening, just outside of Red Deer, Jason Zackowski and his wife Kris were walking with their dogs, Bunsen and Beaker. The two dogs are known online for their science-related videos and have more than 80,000 followers on Twitter.

While out for their walk, Bunsen noticed something down in a creek bed.

“He was standing in a prominent position kind of looking down into the creek bed, and that’s when we noticed there was a dog down there,” Jason said.

Jason said he wasn’t sure if the dog was a stray or not, but he could tell it was in distress. They went home to drop off Bunsen and Beaker and pick up supplies. He and his son Adam then went back to the dog with a leash, some food, and a blanket.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Adam said.

“You realize that there’s an animal there that needs help and you really want to help it.”

However, the dog was too weak to walk, and Adam had to run back home to grab a sled.

“We weren’t going to give up on the dog,” Jason said.

“If the sled didn’t work, we had plans to camp down there to keep it warm.”

Luckily, the sled did work, and they were able to pull the dog more than three kilometres back to their home. While this is all going on, Kris was at home combing through missing dog posts online. She found a notice for a similar looking dog named Bailey who had been missing for an entire night. She contacted the owners, and they were ecstatic. 

“By the time we got back, within an hour, we had located and contacted this dog’s owner, and they were very appreciative,” Jason said.  

“You love your pet’s right. You love them so much, and I could just see that they were so happy to have their animal back.”

Jason said the rescue is all thanks to Bunsen, the science communicating dog, who displayed his instinct and intelligence.

“Had Bunsen not located the dog, I can’t imagine what would have happened,” he said.

“It’s funny that Bunsen’s intelligence, his perceived intelligence, was shown in rescuing this dog.”