PORT ANGELES – A dog and its owner are safe after a technical rescue near Port Angeles this weekend.

On Saturday, Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue went to Henry Boyd Road east of Port Angeles for a reported dog and owner down a steep embankment.  Initial reports were that the owner was not injured but the dog had mobility issues and was not able to get back up the slope without assistance.

Bystanders reported the German Shepard, named Tillie, had started chasing a deer but then went down the embankment into a ravine. The owner went down to retrieve the dog, however with the limited mobility of the dog and steep incline, both the dog and the owner were not able to safely make it back up the hill.  The owner and dog were about 200ft down into the ravine.

Crews determined the safest way to retrieve both the dog and owner was to set up a rope rescue system. They lowered a two-person team into the ravine.  Once they contacted the owner and confirmed he was not injured, they began preparing both the dog and owner for retrieval up the hillside.  The dog was packaged in a rescue harness and the rope system was then used to haul the dog and rescuers up the hillside without incident.

Once the dog was safely back up to the top, a second set of rescuers then lowered the harness system back down to assist the owner back up the hillside.  The dog owner was not injured and was able to walk back up the slope with the rescuers. The entire rescue took nearly three hours.