Joey the Australian shepherd and his owner are breathing sighs of relief after the dog was saved by a Nanaimo Fire Rescue technical rope rescue team this afternoon.

Firefighters and police were called to the Extension Ridge Trail, southeast of Harewood, on Tuesday at about 12:45 p.m. after the dog fell down a geological feature the trail crosses over commonly referred to as the Abyss, a large crack in the bedrock that extends for much of the distance of the ridge.

The dog and his owner were hiking in the area when the dog fell an estimated 18 metres into the fissure and couldnsa国际传媒檛 get out.

Geoff Whiting, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief of operations, said a technical rescue team was sent into the Abyss to retrieve the dog.

sa国际传媒淲e werensa国际传媒檛 sure if the dog was even alive,sa国际传媒� Whiting said. sa国际传媒淭he reports we got is that they could hear the dog barking at first and then didnsa国际传媒檛 hear it. It ended up being about 50 feet down.sa国际传媒�

Firefighter Justin Lynch was selected to go into the Abyss since he is slim enough to fit into the narrow space. He had to clear branches and other debris that had fallen into the crack to get access to the dog, but eventually made his way down to where it had fallen.

sa国际传媒淔ortunately the dog had a harness on him and our guy was able to get down to reach him and talk the dog into getting close to him and ended up hooking one of the lines sa国际传媒� up to the harness and they basically pulled the dog up,sa国际传媒� Whiting said.

Whiting said it was fortunate the dog was wearing its harness, otherwise there would not have been room for Lynch to hold the dog in his arms and carry him up out of the Abyss.

sa国际传媒淭he owner was really grateful and it was lucky that we were able to get to [the dog] because of the way that crack is,sa国际传媒� Whiting said. sa国际传媒淚f he had gone a little farther along it would have been hard.sa国际传媒�

Once out, the dog appeared to be uninjured, if a little sa国际传媒渇reaked outsa国际传媒� by the experience, Whiting said, and the petsa国际传媒檚 owner took the pooch to a veterinary clinic to be checked out. The pet owner said in an e-mail to the News Bulletin that his dog was x-rayed and sustained no injuries at all in the fall. He said he was very grateful to all who took part in the rescue.

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