Aging dog on steep hike needs help getting home
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A steep hike on a hot day proved too much for a large, 12-year-old golden retriever with arthritis, so 18 volunteer rescuers came to the dog’s aid.
KGW-TV reports the rescue effort took more than five hours and some creativity Wednesday.
Georgia Baker of Woodburn says she was taking her dog, Dan, on a two-mile round trip hike to Abiqua Falls in Marion County, Ore., when it became too much for him.
Other hikers reportedly saw the woman struggling with the dog and called 911.
Marion County sheriff’s spokesman Don Thomson says the volunteers rigged a sled and used plastic webbing to secure Dan. Then they used ropes and “sheer strength” to pull and carry the dog up several hundred feet to safety.