Dog's tale has a happy ending
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 8:37 AM PDT
By Niis Bue
Printable version
E-mail this articleRobert Howard's 4-year-old Dalmatian Willie got himself into a heap of trouble chasing a cat at about 4:30 p.m., Monday.
Howard's home off Spirit Lake Highway in Castle Rock is atop a 70-foot cliff that "goes quite a distance on both sides," said Eric Koreis, Castle Rock emergency services director.
The cat leaped onto a tree that hangs partly over the cliff and Willie went skidding off the edge, falling 70 feet to the Toutle River below.
Howard called the Castle Rock Fire & EMS Technical Rescue Team.
When they arrived, the dog "wasn't happy about it -- we could hear it down there howling and making noise," Koreis said.
Willie was hemmed in by the cliff and "pretty formidable" river rapids, he said.
Firefighter Wayne Moore performed a high-angle rescue, taking some dog treats down with him.
Willie calmed down, Moore devised a harness, and the crew on top pulled the pet up, Koreis said. Since Willie's a Dalmatian, "it kind of felt like rescuing one of our own," he said.
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