Firefighters Called To Rescue Not A Cat, But A Dog Stuck In A Tree

(KOVR) – Firefighters are known to rescue cats stuck in trees — but what about German shepherds?

Last week, crews in California were called to do exactly that.

It was the type of 911 call that dog owner Sharon Thurston said she never expected to make.

“I was so scared,” she said. “That dog is my baby. Like, she’s everything to me.”

On Dec. 14, Thurston said she took her 2-year-old German shepherd “Baby” off her leash for just a few minutes. Moments later, she heard Baby barking and suddenly realized her pooch had gotten into a precarious position.

It turned out Baby had booked it up a branch in pursuit of a cat.

“I looked up and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s going to fall!'” Thurston said.

She called some of her neighbors for advice, and one of them suggested she call the fire department.

“I took a chuckle and thought it was a first,” said firefighter Larry Madoski. “(I) immediately made a phone call to find out if someone was kidding with me.”

Crews found it a little hard to believe, but the discovered the dog was, indeed, stuck up a tree when they arrived.

“You can see a full-grown German shepherd perched upon a large tree,” said firefighter Marty Ortiz, “and you can see that cat at the end of the limb.”

Ortiz immediately took action.

The responders were able to get a ladder to the limb. Ortiz grabbed the dog’s leash, which had been tangled up on the branch. As soon as he brought Baby down from the branch, the cat found its own way off the tree.

“The cat got down by itself,” Thurston said. “It’s still running around here antagonizing her every day.”

And as for Baby?

“She’s fantastic now,” Thurston said. “She’s back to herself.”