When you’re 98 in people years, the old eyes aren’t what they used to be.
Unfortunately, Biscuit the border collie found out the hard way when the 14-year-old pooch took a tumble into the family’s septic tank on a rural property about eight km northeast of Red Deer.
Lucky for Biscuit, Red Deer County was called and three of its staff arrived with seven members of Red Deer Search and Rescue.
Assistant county manager Ric Henderson and Search and Rescue volunteer Ric Henderson said Biscuit was about four metres below the surface, standing in septic waste up to his belly.
Search and Rescue set up a tripod and lowered veteran volunteer Kristy Kozuska into the hole, which was only about 75 cm across and was even more narrow towards the bottom of the tank.
It took only about 15 minutes to get set up and Kozuska was able to get a sling around Biscuit and both were pulled to the surface in less than 10 minutes. The dog immediately came to her when she reached the bottom of the stinky tank.
“He was pretty happy to be rescued,” said Henderson. “He’s an old dog and friendly.”
As soon as they got to the surface, both were hosed off.
Biscuit appears to be fine.