“He was too fast for me,” said Rose.
Rose followed and then heard Sawyer yelping.
She found he’d broken through the canal ice, “hanging on for dear life,” she said. “He was frantic and scared, as was I.”
Rose got on the phone and fortunately, help was only minutes away.
Rose waited fewer than 10 minutes for Waterford Police and Fire crews to arrive at the canal, located near Kingsley Montgomery school.
The three firefighters — Jeff Jones, Josh Dorman and Don Lyons — along with Police Officer Chris Fritz worked as a team to rescue the dog, Rose said.
Lt. Dorman said the dog was about a half-mile back from the road.
“We could hear him barking,” said Dorman.
“The dog was having a hard time getting up.”
Jones, a paramedic, said once out, Sawyer “was definitely happy to be out.”
Rose called the rescuers “amazing,” she said, “so kind and professional. They had (the process) down to a science.”
Dressed in special cold-water rescue suits and using a sled and long rod, the crews were able to move toward the dog and grab his harness.
“It was so fast,” said Rose, who adopted Sawyer from the Leader Dogs for the Blind program. (He flunked out, she said.)
The fire department receives an average of two calls each winter to rescue animals from ice on Waterford’s 27 lakes.
Police and fire officials noted this is an example of how the two departments work together at a scene.
“The process of saving the dog on ice was the same used as when saving people,” said Waterford Police Chief Daniel McCaw. “I’m proud of how this all turned out.”
Officials remind people to beware of lake and canal ice this time of year.
“The ice is still not thick enough to walk on because of the inconsistent cold temperatures,” McCaw said, adding that forecasters are calling for even warmer weather toward the end of the week.
Sawyer did sprain his tail being in the cold water, said Rose. When the dog couldn’t sit down, Rose took him to a veterinarian who prescribed pain medication.
“It’s going to take a few days but there is no lasting damage,” said Rose. Rose dropped off a coffee cake to each department’s headquarters. “They have my undying gratitude,” she said.
“They saved my dog.”
(News Herald - Jan 8, 2013)
