Dog owners should be cautious near ice

One night last week, on a local news program, I saw a story about a Bozeman UPS driver who entered an icy pond in an effort to rescue a struggling dog trapped in the ice.

Not long after, my wife found a posting on Facebook that included a related article in the Great Falls Tribune.

While making a delivery, the UPS guy, Ryan Arens, heard a dog, “screaming and crying and going crazy”, obviously in distress in a pond.

Arens stripped to his boxers, then took a small boat from an older guy who was having no success at rescue. Arens fell into the icy water but managed to push the dog onto ice and escape the pond himself.

The dog was a 2-1/2-year-old wire-haired pointing Griffon.

Same age, same breed as our Gracie.

Nan knew one of Gracie’s litter-mates lived in Bozeman.

An online check with our Helena Griffon breeder confirmed that Sadie is, indeed, Gracie’s sister!

Born in early May, neither mom, Bree, nor dad, Dutch, had the opportunity to teach their young-uns about ice.

Sadie’s plight and eventual rescue should be a reminder to all dog owners that ice can be dangerous, especially on a familiar body of water used for swimming.

According to Arens, Sadie “freaked out” and ran right to him when he made his next deliver to her house.

Typical goofy Griffon!

Jerry Smalley’s Fishful Thinking column appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.