March 29, 2007
By Eric White
FOX8 News
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) -- Bracing itself against the current and balancing on a thin strip of concrete that overlooked a 30 foot drop, the poor pooch was stranded.
From its precarious perch atop the spillway at High Point's Oak Hollow Dam, the yellow Lab mix paced back and forth on the ledge, searching for a way out of this mess.
Photo: A frightened dog was rescued from the rushing waters near the Oak Hollow Dam early Thursday morning. It all started when the dog wandered out onto the spillway. High Point firefighters and animal control officers were called in for the rescue. Although there were a couple of scary moments, the dog was ultimately brought to safety. Go to complete video
Shortly after sunrise, Christine Flynn spotted the dog and called for help.
"I thought it was a bag, but then I saw his head bob. So I got out and I got out to the edge over there, and I said, 'Oh my God, it's a dog.'," she recalled.
High Point firefighters and animal control officers arrived and began working on a plan to rescue the stranded dog.
Plan A involved dropping a rope with a loop on the end from a platform above the spillway, but the wind and rain had other ideas.
Abandoning that plan, rescue workers resorted to Plan B: attempting to get close enough with a pontoon boat, a risk that involved maneuvering the boat very close to the 30-foot drop.
As the boat inched closer, it kicked up some water, nearly knocking the dog over the edge. Somehow, the pooch kept its balance.
Once the boat was close enough, firefighters slipped a loop over its neck and pulled it into the boat.
High Point firefighter Nelson Moxley said he's been a part of quite a few rescues, but nothing quite like this.
"The dog was really in some danger up there, but we had a very intelligent dog," he said.
The ad-libbed emergency plan was executed to perfection.
"We got in, nobody got hurt, none of our equipment got damaged and we were able to take the dog off the spillway," remarked battalion chief Danny Buckner.
The dog, which was wearing a collar but had no tags, was taken to the Guilford County Animal Shelter.
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