Missing Dog Turns Up... 40ft Up

Saturday, May 26, 2001 - USA

MISSOULA, MT — Some time late Tuesday of last week, "Tika", the two-year-old Shepherd mutt went missing.  Tika's guardian Cathy Johnson spent the entire evening and a good portion of the night searching for the dog, but came up empty-handed.

The following day, Ms. Johnson resumed the search, snooping around all of Tika's favorite haunts, the brier patches, the tall grass, underneath the deck... then she heard something and looked up.

There was Tika, wagging her tail, about 40ft up in a tree.

Ms. Johnson called the fire department (I guess they do dogs, too), and firefighters arrived with a 110ft ladder.

"She knew she was saved," said Ms. Johnson, describing how the mutt became excited the moment she saw the rescuers with the big ladder.

Note: This is not a picture of Tika.  This is just another dog-in-a-tree photo we happened to have lying around.

Animal control officers believe that Tika, known around the neighborhood as "the Rocket Dog" for her impressive speed, was chasing something when she ran up a 45° fallen trunk and hopped into the nearby tree.

"I don't think a normal dog would wander up there," said Animal Control officer Pat Hess.

Still wearing her 10ft cable-style leash which had become entangled in the branches, she was suspended from falling, while at the same time hindered from climbing back down.

Reportedly, a squirrel nearby was heard to remark, "Oy gevalt! There goes the neighborhood!"

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