After falling in the river and washing downstream, I swam to an island in the middle. It was a small place to take refuge, but at least I got to climb up out of the water. As I dried off, I thought about what to do when I heard my mommy human cry out for me. “There’s my baby!” she screamed. She was up on a bridge above me, far away from where I was trapped.
I am not really her baby, but she likes to treat me like one. I can usually take care of myself, but I had to admit I was in quite a jam this time. There was no way I was going back into the water. Where would I swim to? That dirty river water would wash me away, to who knows where?
Stranded
I decided the best thing to do was sit tight while my human mommy continued to scream for help. Finally, some nice human men decided to lend a hand. The tall one climbed down from the bridge and waded through the water to where I was.
Boy, was I happy to see him. I wagged my tail to tell him so. When he asked me to come to him, I did. He picked me up and held me in his arms. He held me high and dry and waded back across the water to return to the bridge.
Getting down from the bridge for him was fairly easy, but getting back up was a lot harder. Another one of the human men climbed down to the ledge below the bridge. He was just able to reach down and pull me up by the scruff of my neck.
Rescued
Nobody has picked me up that way since I was a little puppy. It pinched a little, but I didn’t care because I could see I was getting out of trouble and soon would be back with my human mommy.
The second guy lifted me to a third guy who also climbed part of the way down. It was like what they used to call the bucket brigade, where one guy hands off a bucket of water to another who passes it down the line to put out a fire.
I was impressed by the amazing teamwork, and before you know it, I was swooped up to the top of the bridge and back safe and sound with my human mommy.
I looked over the edge to see how far it was down to the river. Then I watched as the guys all climbed back up, helping each other along the way.
Lesson Learned
That is the amazing thing about humans and dogs: we work together. When there is a problem, with teamwork, we can solve it. I am so glad my new human friends were there to help me when I needed them the most. I am going to be a lot more careful next time when I am near the river.
