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Firefighters rescue dogs
(Original text may be viewed
here.)
27 January 1999:
Theresa Hawkesworth
Lighthouse staff
LUNENBURG - Man was dog's best friend last week as Lunenburg
firefighters rescued two puppies from the Back Harbour.
Now those dogs need another friend.
When "Pete" and "Martha" fell through the ice near Sawpit Wharf
January 21, Lunenburg firefighters responded.
They arrived with the department's Rescue Alive board and managed to
pull the dogs to safety.
After the dogs recovered at dispatcher Randy Whynacht's home, they
were taken to the Shelter for Homeless Animals in Distress (S.H.A.I.D.).
Now they need homes.
"They're very nice dogs. They're very adoptable dogs," said Mr.
Whynacht, who owns one of their litter mates. His company, Whynacht
Security, dispatched the fire department after receiving two calls
about the dogs.
"We had no qualms about paging this out as a water rescue page. The
fire department rolled on it as if it were you or me in the water.
They got there, they deployed without hesitation. They grabbed those
dogs and got them out of the water," he said. "It was really quite
impressive."
When the fire department arrived, the dogs were surrounded by ice
about 100 feet from shore. Whining and barking, one unsuccessfully
attempted to climb onto the ice.
"In this scenario the dogs were in pretty rough shape," said Mr.
Whynacht. "One of them had gone under for the second time. He was
getting pretty weak and unable to hang on much longer."
Firefighter John Lohnes manned the department's Rescue Alive board.
The ice was so thin, the board would not slide across the ice as
intended.
"The Rescue Alive board is built in such a way that you can
basically run across the ice between the rails, but yesterday the
ice was so thin, we had to physically break through the ice and push
our way out," said Lunenburg Fire Chief Terry Conrad. "The kind of
ice that we encountered yesterday is probably the most dangerous and
hardest to recover type of ice that there is."
Whistling to lure the dogs closer, Mr. Lohnes pulled them on board.
It took only seconds for firefighters on shore to pull them to
safety.
"The retrieval is very, very quick," he said.
The Lunenburg Fire Department bought Rescue Alive just over a year
ago after receiving an anonymous donation. Though firefighters have
trained and practiced with it, Pete and Martha were their first live
victims.
"We always knew we had the possibility to use it to save lives. I
guess I never, ever thought that we would be out rescuing dogs on
it, but I guess if we can rescue a dog, that can give us no help at
all, rescuing a human should be much easier," said Mr. Conrad.
Knowing he would probably end up with the dogs overnight, Mr.
Whynacht also responded to the call. He and his wife, who have four
dogs of their own, often hold lost or stray dogs found in the
Lunenburg-Mahone Bay area until the owner calls or the dog control
officer can transport them to S.H.A.I.D.
"I was just arriving when the second dog was being pulled out of the
water," he said. "They had been in the water for awhile."
Siblings, the six- to eight-month-old dogs are thought to be a cross
between Black Labrador Retriever and Border Collie. Mr. Whynacht
thinks the male fell through the ice first.
"The female recovered very quickly. It only took about half an hour
and she was up wagging her tail and running around," he said. "The
other one we worked on for at least an hour and he was still
shivering after that."
Mr. Whynacht called veterinarian Dr. David Evans to make sure he was
treating the dogs properly. The male, spastic, uncoordinated and
shivering, was suffering from hypothermia so he held him, covered
him with blankets and used a blow dryer, at low heat, to dry his
fur.
"And a lot of comforting. In about an hour's time he was able to
have a little something to eat, a little something to drink and
about an hour after that he was up wagging his tail."
"(The next morning) they were bright eyed and bushy tailed," said
Mr. Whynacht.
Police and South Shore Emergency Medical Care also responded to the
call.
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