By Lori Steineck
The Repository, Canton, Ohio
ALLIANCE, Ohio — A police officer and a water/sewer department foreman rescued a pit bull Monday that became stuck in a drainage pipe while chasing a groundhog.
Both animals escaped injury.
The dog was safely returned to her owner and the groundhog, “took off north, full waddle, never to be seen again,” Alliance police Lt. Bill Morris said.
Officers were called at 2:20 p.m. to the 1300 block of Webb Avenue where the dog’s owner had been walking. Morris said the five-year-old pit bull broke free from her collar during the walk and chased after the groundhog.
The groundhog dashed into a pipe and the dog went right in after it.
“The dog made it about 30 yards and got stuck,” the lieutenant said. “The owner couldn’t coax her out and realized she was pretty good and stuck.”
Patrolman Ken Hanket, whom Morris described as “an animal lover,” looked into the other end of the pipe.
“He was met by the groundhog about 6 inches in,” Morris said. “The groundhog was afraid to come out. He ran back toward the dog.
“He was stuck between the dog and the cop.”
The water and sewer department was called to the scene.
Foreman Chet Jones, also described by Morris as “a dog lover,” is “the one that came out with all the cool tools and the camera.”
Unable to easily coax either animal from the concrete drain pipe, Jones used a water jet to clean out the short end of the pipe.
“We flushed (the groundhog) real good and made everybody get back from the hole as soon saw him (coming out),” Morris said.
Then Jones ran a camera down the pipe.
The rescuers realized how far back the dog was stuck.
They began to dig, coming up 2 to 3 feet shy of where the pit bull was trapped, so they didn’t come down on top of the canine.
“Chet told us where to start digging and he grabbed a spud bar and started busting through the concrete pipe,” Morris said, adding that he first obtained permission from the nearby homeowner.
“The homeowner said, ‘Do what you gotta do to get the dog out. She was very, very nice about it,” he said.
Then the dog’s owner reached in and coaxed him out.
The dog was “very grateful,” Morris said. “She went around and greeted everybody and thanked them.”
Police posted photos of the rescue on their Facebook page.
©2020 The Repository, Canton, Ohio