Firemen responding to the scene quickly realized they had a tricky situation.
An elderly dog in Connecticut found herself trapped on a frozen pond near her home Monday morning, forcing an elaborate rescue mission by the local fire department.
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The owner of Delilah, a 19-year-old shepherd mix, called 911 after noticing the canine was stuck on the pond.
Firemen responding to the scene quickly realized they had a tricky situation.
As firefighter Rob Petrie stepped onto the ice to get the dog, it broke under his feet. Luckily, he was on the shallow end near land, but Delilah was in an area frozen above a 10-foot-drop.
"We train specifically for ice rescue and we have cool water rescue – we have emergency sleds," Assistant Chief George Gomola of the Fairfield Fire Department told InsideEdition.com. "We had a special rescue stick with a loop around it that would tighten around her neck as [Delilah] came to the edge."
Delilah was cold and wet, but walked away unscathed from the ordeal.
The rescue took about 10 minutes, according to Gomola. The owner was so excited to get his beloved dog back that he started to cry.
“He dropped by the station and after he gave us a donation he said, ‘you guys just saved our Christmas,'" Gomola said. “This is what we do — make your Christmas everyday. We are trained to change people’s lives."
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Gomola did have wise words to parents — of both dogs and children.
He added: "This is the time of the year... You need to dial 911 immediately and let [the fire department] use the tools and their training. Somebody that’s not trained and dives into these frozen ponds makes our job more difficult and puts [lives] at risk.”
All photos courtesy Fairfield Fire Department.
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