[News] Yorkie Leads Contractors on a Wild Chase

[fasteddie]

WESTERLY - Local cabinetmakers Mark Olson and Mike Kennedy went to install a kitchen counter at their client's summer house Tuesday morning, but ended up on a rescue mission over land and sea to save the homeowners' pint-sized Yorkshire Terrier.

Olson, 44, and Kennedy, 46, recounted the fiasco Thursday afternoon in Bob and Nancy Kiel's summer house at 3 Champlin Drive, where the two-man crew of Olson & Sons Cabinetmakers were finishing renovations in the kitchen.

When the men arrived at the house Tuesday for their second day on the job, the door was locked and a dog was barking. Kennedy unlocked the door and found the Kiels' nine-pound terrier, in one of the ranch's bedrooms.

Olson had gone to fetch a bucket of tools from his truck during Kennedy's brief encounter with the dog. Olson walked back to the front door, talking on his cell phone and carrying his tools, and opened the door.

The terrier shot out of the house before Olson could block the tiny animal.

"I knew it was a family pet, so I knew we were in trouble," he said.

The terrier stopped at the foot of the driveway, but took off up the street when the men approached it. Kennedy was the first to give chase. He watched the dog stop for a second time in a front yard five houses down. The dog urinated on the grass before continuing up the street. Kennedy kept running.

"I kept saying to myself, 'I got to get this dog back, I got to get this dog back," he remembered.

The chase led Kennedy to the backyard of a red ranch at the end of the dead-end road. The dog then jumped over a stone wall into another yard. Kennedy followed. He watched the dog run across the lawn to another property on the Pawcatuck River.

Out of breath, Kennedy started walking at that point. When he reached the waterfront property, he saw the dog standing at the edge of a dock. He stopped at the foot of the dock and tried to get the dog to come to him, calling it "poochie" because he did not know its name (Oscar).

"The dog looks at me, looks at the water, looks at me, looks at the water - and then just jumps in," Kennedy said.

Oscar swam away from the dock, which sits along Colonel Willie Cove. A man was working on his fishing boat near the dock. Kennedy saw an aluminum row boat and asked the gentleman if he could borrow it. The man said yes, but informed him that there were no oars.

Kennedy, an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 15 in Charlestown, picked up a weathered board and snapped it in half. He dragged the small boat to the edge of the water and launched the thing. However, between the wind and ineffectiveness of his makeshift oar, it took him about 15 minutes to clear the end the nearby dock.

Olson caught up with Kennedy as he struggled to row the boat toward the dog, which was already in the middle of the cove. Rowing like a nut, Kennedy said, he pursued the dog for about 300 yards before it was within his reach.

On the opposite side of the cove at a boatyard, the Kiel's watched the rescue in progress. They were standing with Sal Ritacco, a local general contractor who hired the cabinetmakers.

When Kennedy pulled up along side Oscar, the little dog looked like he was out of energy. However, the dog managed to nip his hand when he reached out for it. On a second try, he pulled the dog out the water by the scruff of its neck.

Shortly thereafter, a dockhand at the boatyard tossed Kennedy a rope and pulled the shivering man and dog to shore. Kennedy delivered Oscar to the arms of his owners, who wrapped him in a blanket and expressed their gratitude.

Bob Kiel, a periodontist commended Kennedy's efforts on Thursday evening at his year-round home in Simsbury, Conn.

"When the dog jumped in the water," Kiel said, "for Mike to think that fast and grab the boat, he's a real hero."

Kiel said that Oscar recovered quickly from the long swim, and was fine 30 minutes after returning home.

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/articl...news/news4.txt

[Crazy4Carlee]

What a story! Glad it had a "happy" ending!!