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As fireworks lit up the sky on the Fourth of July, a small pup terrified of the booming noises escaped her leash and swam to an island in the San Francisco Bay area despite a fear of water.

Leilani, an 8-month-old Goldendoodle, was at a Fourth of July celebration at the Port of Redwood City with her owners, Kevin and Elizabeth Dalonzo, when the exploding fireworks scared her. Leilani fled into the bay and swam to the small and deserted Bair Island, where she got stuck all alone for two nights.

"Right when the first firework went off, she jetted off," Kevin Dalonzo told USA TODAY on Tuesday from the couple's home in Silicon Valley. "I started running after her. She had no sense of anything. She had her head down and was so scared, she kept running as fast as she could, not knowing where she was going."

Though Dalonzo chased after her and kept calling out to her, he couldn't catch up and eventually lost her in the industrial port area. He kept searching for Leilani until 2 a.m. and couldn't find a trace of her.

But luck ended up being on Leilani's side.

Paddler comes across howling Leilani

Two days after Leilani's escape, longtime paddler Roger Dunn was in his outrigger canoe passing by Bair Island when he heard howling. At first, he thought it could be a coyote.

"Then I looked over across the channel, across the mud, to the land, and I saw a dog running," the 75-year-old Dunn told USA TODAY on Tuesday. "I thought, 'Well, that's kind of weird.'"

Dunn then spotted Leilani's collar and a leash dangling beside her. She was looking at him and barking.

Knowing that Bair Island is deserted and has no food, water or shelter for a dog, Dunn knew he had to help. He paddled closer to the muddy shore and called to Leilani.

She darted right for Dunn despite the thick mud.

"Probably one of the most amazing things of this whole experience is, oh, she's actually coming to me," Dunn said. "You can tell it's very difficult. If you and I were walking in this mud, it would be up to your knees."

A boat rescue ensues for Leilani

Dunn's next hurdle was getting Leilani to safety. He said that his boat is "very tippy" and that he was worried that it would flip.

But Dunn managed to get her onto the boat and into his lap. Although she was covered in mud and filth from her adventures on the island, Dunn could make out the phone number on her dog tag and called it. He left a message and started heading slowly to safety, holding Leilani in one hand and paddling with the other.

The 2-mile journey, which normally would take Dunn 20 minutes, instead took over an hour. When they arrived to a boat ramp, other paddlers helped him get Leilani back to land.

A kayaker also took pictures of Leilani and Dunn, which the latter then sent to his wife so she could start reaching out to various animal organizations in the area in the hopes of finding Leilani's owners.

Dunn took Leilani to a local animal hospital to see if she needed any medical attention. Dunn said the dog was exhausted by the time he put her in his truck.

It was at the Adobe Animal Hospital in Los Altos where Dunn ran into Denise O' Brien of the Silicon Valley Watch Dogs, a community-based initiative to help pet owners in Silicon Valley.

"Today I witnessed a miracle," O'Brien wrote in a Facebook post about Leilani's rescue. "I met an ANGEL in the waiting room. Actually, I realized he was a HERO and GOOD SAMARITAN who rescued a lost dog."

O'Brien continued to write about the dangers Leilani was facing on the island, saying "she possibly would've died had Roger not cruised by in his yellow boat today."

"Nobody lives on the island, there's no shelter and our temps were record-breaking and over 100° in much of the Bay Area," she wrote.

The animal hospital gave Leilani water and snacks, which she immediately gobbled up, and administered first aid. Just as they were about to notify the chip company of Leilani's whereabouts, Dalonzo returned Dunn's call.

Emotional reunion

Two hours later, Dalonzo tearfully reunited with Leilani.

He said he was overjoyed when he found out that Leilani had been found, adding that he had been unable to sleep in the days she had been missing. Dalonzo said he was shocked when he heard that Leilani had swum across the channel to Bair Island, considering he always thought his pup was scared of water.

He said that he and his wife adopted Leilani from a local adoption agency around 5 months ago and didn't realize she was so terrified of fireworks.

Leilani, a Hawaiian name that means "heavenly flowers" or "royal child," was named after a restaurant in Hawaii where Dalonzo first told his wife he loved her, making the pet all the more special.

The couple has one other pet, a dog named Coconut.

O'Brien, meanwhile, urged pet owners to be "extra careful" on the Fourth of July and other fireworks events.

"What started out as a disastrous nightmare for Leilani's family that evening, and a two-day search for their lost dog, led to a beautiful, filthy rescue," O'Brien said in her post. "Thank you, Roger for doing such a kind deed."

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.