After losing hope of finding his dog missing for a week, 93-year-old laid a trail of his smelly socks — 30 minutes later, the unbelievable happened

A 93-year-old dog owner had lost hope of reuniting with his beloved pet two weeks after she went missing on October 4, 2025. Before giving up, the owner, Norm Feigenbaum, went all in. With the help of a local rescue team, he laid out an extraordinary trail of his unwashed, smelly socks, hoping his missing dog, Sunny, a yellow Labrador, would pick up on it and find her way back home. The owner did not have his expectations high when the team began their search with his personal garment, but it was only a matter of time before the unbelievable happened. 

Sunny had lost her way back home when she tried to follow Feigenbaum during a grocery run. He had no clue about his 7-year-old rescue dog until he returned home to find she was missing. The pet dog had reportedly jumped the backyard wall in an attempt to accompany her master, but it turned into a messy stunt. Feigenbaum was devastated by his best friend’s sudden disappearance, but kept searching for a week without any leads. His house was uncomfortably silent. "After several days, I really thought she was gone. The house was barren without her,” Feigenbaum told ABC.  

His friend, Sheryl, contacted Dog Days Search and Rescue in West Hills to help the owner reunite with his pet dog. They got to work putting up posters everywhere while the owner also took to the streets to personally hand out flyers on his scooter, per an Instagram post by the rescue team (@dogdayssar). “We hoped someone found her and just hadn't checked for a chip yet, but she was nowhere to be found,” the post read. A few days later, a woman named Denise informed the rescue team that she had seen Sunny near the Chatsworth Reservoir, a natural preserve, on one of the roads. 

The rescue did not waste a second to head over and “verify the information.” The preserve’s massive chain-link gate was closed, per the post. However, an LADWP crew had helped the team get inside to search for a limited period. “There were 1,300 acres of open space behind those gates, and we only had access for a brief time. Unfortunately, we couldn't locate Sunny before the gates were again shut, and we were locked out!” Feigenbaum feared for his dog, knowing coyotes roamed the area and the limited water supply would be barely sufficient. The team set up traps for Sunny, and the owner believed it was the stink of his socks that led her home. 

When the team laid out the smelly trail, the familiar scent likely appealed to the pet dog, and she followed it into a cage set up for her. Half an hour later, Sunny was on her way to be reunited with her distressed owner. A quick vet checkup treated minor cuts and bruises before she was ready to go back home. Feigenbaum shared, “I’m not going to wash them. I'm going to put them in a frame and hang them on the wall.” A memoir of their heartwarming reunion. 

You can follow @dogdayssar on Instagram for more updates.