Having owned a coonhound before, Sasha Marks knew the kind of energy and behaviour that specific breed has. But over the weekend, she encountered something with her two-year-old dog Tigger you rarely see as an owner.
On Sunday, while at her Wabamum Lake cabin, west of Edmonton, she let Tigger outside and Marks saw her dog scurry off into the bushes. She thought Tigger was maybe off to do one of her favourite activities at the lake — chasing squirrels. Or maybe she went to visit the ice fishers nearby.
But moments later, she was in for a major shock. Tigger had climbed a 50-foot tree.
“We knew she was a bit of a climber, as she likes to climb dead trees that have fallen over. It was never a big deal. But never a tree like this in a million years,” said Marks.
“I was in total shock. I knew if she fell from that height, she’d be a goner.”
The timing of it couldn’t have been worse. Marks’ husband and their sons were on a ski trip, so she had nobody to help her get Tigger down from the tree.
Worried she might fall if she tried to rescue Tigger herself, Marks ran inside, grabbed a mattress, and tried to coax Tigger down, but her dog was too scared. She took a picture and texted her husband.
“He responded with, ‘It looks like a nice day,’ and I responded back and told him to zoom in on the tree,” said Marks.
“I told him, ‘What do I do? I’m panicking.’ He told me to call the non-emergency line or 911.”
Within 20 minutes, the West Central Fire Station in Parkland County arrived.
Tigger gained enough courage to make it partway down the tree, but she was still at least 30 feet high when the firefighters rescued her.
A crew of dog lovers
Cats are known to get caught in trees and rescued by firefighters, but dogs are extremely rare.
“I’ve heard of it happening, but it’s very rare. It’s definitely a call we’ve never had in our county where we’ve had a dog stuck in a tree,” said Robert Malehow, deputy fire chief for Parkland County.
Kyle Sherman, a firefighter with West Central Fire Station, said thankfully none of the crew on call that day had a fear of dogs, so the whole process of rescuing Tigger went smoothly.
“The whole crew were dog lovers. It was almost an argument of who would save the dog,” said Sherman.
“We asked (Marks) if the dog is friendly, and she said yes, and we had one of our crew members go up the ladder and the dog was extremely friendly. He was able to get her down and carry her like a baby.
“You could tell she was ready to come down from the tree. She had a look on her face like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have chased that squirrel. I shouldn’t be up here right now.’”
Marks, Tigger, and the rest of her family are back home on their acreage near Ardrossan.
Thankfully, Tigger suffered no injuries maybe just a little embarrassment but there are new rules now when they go to the cabin.
“If I’m out there by myself, she has to be on a leash if she goes outside. If my husband is out there with me, I’m sure he’ll say, ‘She’s fine,’ but if it happens again, he can go up the tree and get her.”
The entire rescue mission took less than 10 minutes, and it will no doubt be a memorable call for the firefighters involved.
“With the outcome being what it was, everyone is happy,” said Malehow.
“Everyone (on the fire crew) was pumped to have a call like that. This is a call they can talk about and share with people for the rest of their careers.”
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