Suburban Chicago firefighter rescues 120-pound dog from icy waters
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A dog owner is beyond grateful after the Long Grove Fire Protection District rescued her 120-pound Great Pyrenees dog.
The dog fell into an icy pond Friday morning and it was a sight no dog owner would ever want to see.
"Unfortunately I thought for a minute that I was going to just watch her die in front of my eyes. She's just a wonderful dog."
Roseanne, who didn't want to use her last name, is talking about her seven-year-old, 120-pound Great Pyrenees dog named Belle.
Crews with the Long Grove Fire Protection District did some heavy lifting Friday morning when they pulled the soaking wet dog from an icy pond off Route 53.
"I freaked out. I started crying. I started screaming to her 'Belle! Belle! Keep your feet up on the ice because we're going to get you out of there!'"
Roseanne said Friday was a typical morning. She was getting dressed and Belle was in the backyard, until she heard her dog yelling.
"I heard really high-pitched screaming. I thought, 'Oh that doesn't sound good.' So I went to find her to see what was going on and that's when I looked out the back window and I saw her treading water in the middle of the pond," Roseanne said.
She tried to save Belle herself, but the sand at the bottom of the pond was making her feet get stuck.
"It's all like quicksand there. You can't walk in it."
So she called 911.
"When they pulled up, they could see the dog, on the ice and through the ice and was getting pretty tired. The dog actually had its paws sitting out on the shelf, waiting to get some help," said Lieutenant Khristine Mullen of the Long Grove Fire Protection District.
Roseanne said Belle was in the water for 30 minutes, which the Long Grove Fire Department said was a long time.
"Anytime that water, especially for dogs, gets around 50 degrees, it's about 20 to 30 minutes is all they can handle, and then they've got all that wet fur afterward. You're looking at hypothermia fairly quickly," Mullen said.
Fortunately, they got Belle out just in time.
"If it wasn't for the fireman and their skills and their compassion, she would have been a goner," said Roseanne.
