When 2-year-old Boden Allen wandered away from his family’s Arizona home on April 14, 2025, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office launched a massive search. The family noticed Boden was gone around 5 p.m. and contacted police for help. More than 40 volunteers from search and rescue joined sheriff’s deputies but had no luck.
Approximately 16 hours after the search began, rancher Scotty Dunton noticed Boden on his property about seven miles from where he first went missing. It seems the rancher’s Anatolian Pyrenees, Buford, led him to safety.
Dunton told the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office he’d heard about the missing child earlier and was driving into town when he noticed Buford sitting near a fence at the edge of the family’s property. Dunton looked up and noticed the “little kid” standing with his dog. Dunton immediately recognized Boden as the missing child and took him into his house to call police.
Boden was understandably upset, but when Dunton calmed him down and gave him food and water, he asked how he ended up on his ranch. Boden told him he slept by a tree until Buford found him and led him to safety.
Dunton told 12 News seeing Boden alive came as a huge relief. “There was a thousand ways for that to go really, really bad and one good way and luckily it turned out to be the good way,” the rancher admitted.
The proud owner explained Buford keeps the family safe and patrols the land to ward off mountain lions and coyotes. Dunton later found Boden and Buford’s tracks and estimates the dog stayed by the toddler’s side for at least a mile keeping watch over him.
“That’s a lot of country he went through. Seven miles from here to there,” Dunton explained. “There’s three big canyons and ridges all the way leading to where he came from, so that’s a long, rough piece of country. It’s amazing he made it as far as he did.”
Buford is a great dog, but his heroic act surprised everyone, even Dunton. Reflecting on the situation, the rancher said his dog loves kids and would never have let anything hurt Boden.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office thanked everyone who helped bring Boden home, with a special shout-out to the real hero in its Facebook post: “YCSO thanks DPS, search and rescue teams, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Mohave County Sheriff’s office, and the public for sharing the flyer. And of course, Buford the dog, who stayed with the boy and brought him to safety.”
