NESKOWIN - Eight volunteers led a dramatic cliff-side rescue on Jan. 14 that saved a Portland-area author's dog.
"It's a small thing, I'm sure, in the search and rescue world, but for our family, it was enormous," said the dog's owner, Brian Doyle.
Ringo, Doyle's Ibizan hound, was clinging to the side of the steep, muddy cliff when he was spotted by beach goers below.
"They said they heard a dog kind of yelping plaintively, which is very unusual for him, he must have really been frightened," Doyle said.
Doyle's daughter had brought the dog with her during a stay at the family's Neskowin home. Ringo had, apparently, wandered behind the neighborhood of houses on South Beach Road overlooking a 200-foot cliff and, unbeknownst to his owner, fell over the edge. He was last seen Friday morning.
At around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 14, Deputy Dean Burdick, a member of the Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue Team, responded to a call from a concerned beach goer. He found the dog precariously stranded about 30 feet below the ledge.
At the bottom of the cliff were huge, jagged boulders meant to slow erosion.
Burdick quickly called Bay City Fire Chief Darrell Griffith, who had access to rope rescue equipment. Griffith suggested Burdick also contact Netarts Fire Chief Tim Carpenter, whose department had a dog rescue harness.
Meanwhile, Ginger Slavens and her son, Tucker Slavens, both volunteer members of Nestucca Rural Fire Protection District and the Search & Rescue Team, arrived and began to assemble their own rope rappelling equipment.
"I can't say enough about the fire departments that we have in our county, because they know how to work together," Burdick said.
When the firefighters arrived from Netarts and Bay City, Tucker Slavens descended the cliff with the dog harness in hand. Slavens was able to reach Ringo, attach the harness, and safely guide him past the dangerous rip-rap below.
Throughout the ordeal, about 60 people had gathered at the beach to watch the rescue. When Ringo landed safely on shore, Burdick said the crowd erupted into applause.
It still wasn't clear to whom Ringo belonged, but Burdick recognized a "Project POOCH" ID tag around the dog's neck.
Ringo's first rescue actually came years ago - he was adopted by the Doyle family from the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, which rehabilitates animals for adoption.
"Project POOCH is a program that takes in dogs that have been abandoned or mistreated, and the juvenile clients at the correction facility raise them, take care of them and find people to adopt them," Burdick said.
Burdick had worked for the Oregon Youth Corrections Authority and was familiar with the program. He called MacLaren and was able to identify the owner.
Described as a quiet, friendly dog, Ringo was unharmed in his ordeal but quite frightened. Doyle said the dog returned home to Lake Oswego and "just kind of crawled up on the couch and slept for a couple of days."
Doyle was shocked that the effort to rescue his dog, which involved four agencies and took three hours, didn't cost him a thing.
"I called to say, ‘do I owe you money? Is there a charge?' And (Dean) goes, ‘oh no, this is an all volunteer thing, we're happy to help, and our payment came when four feet were on the sand.' I'll never forget that phrase," Doyle said.
Doyle, the editor of Portland Magazine and author of the novel "Mink River," made a donation to the Search & Rescue team and offered to come to Tillamook County for a reading to benefit the group.
"I think these people are quietly heroic, they do unbelievable work to keep a community bound together," Doyle said. "They did that all out of the goodness of their hearts... How easy it would have been for him (Ringo) to get washed away, but he wasn't because people bound together, put a lot of creative effort into it, and saved his life. It's a gift to the community to have people like that on that team."
John10e posted at 9:50 pm on Fri, Feb 3, 2012.
John P - When did the rescuers know who the owner of the dog was? That's right - AFTER they went to the effort to get the pup to safety. That says to me, and should to you, that they did their VOLUNTEER work out of the kindness of their hearts. Shame on you and your poison pen.
Good people are the norm, as are those who sincerely appreciate the kindness we all show one another, from pulling over on the Little River road to let another pass, to helping at accidents, to neighbor helping neighbor during/after a storm, and to come together for something as small, and as great, as saving a pup.
The Author is donating time and money not to pay for the cost of the services, but to honor those good people. John, if you recognize and respect the goodness around us you'll feel better.
alldafacts posted at 7:50 pm on Mon, Jan 30, 2012.
"Good lord John Pounce", have you "NOTHING" to do with yourself but sit on here and offer negative feedback to every issue that comes up???? I look at your feedback and it blows me away how you always have some type of negative feedback to offer, who cares whos dog it was for christ sakes, Ive said it before and I will say it again John, if you cant say something nice, dont say nothing at all, PLEASE, and Im sure this suggestion would be appericated by any and all who have come ascross your drawn out, negative attacks on people you dont even know, were you abuased as a child john, do you have friends? this writer finds it hard to fathom you having a conversation with "anyone" without you down-talking them or putting them down, I for one amd tired of you whinning and complaining about everything, SSSHHHHHHH.........................please
niceoldguy posted at 5:53 pm on Mon, Jan 30, 2012.
Well, John, we all may be equal but not necessarily equally well known or equally interesting. Gas station attendant might attract readers who buy a lot of gas, but fewer people are authors. Anyhow, Dpyle is a nice guy (you can look him up online) and "author" was what drew me to the story.
And besides, if you were the reporter, you would be glad to have an author involved, Look at the good quotes he added to the story.
Anyhow, there is no indication that either the people on the beach or the rescue volunteers (good job to them!) knew who the owner did for a living. I'm not even sure Ringo has figured that out.
John Ponce posted at 9:20 am on Sun, Jan 29, 2012.
Was it imperative to the story to label the dog an "author's dog"? Would the same large-scale rescue effort have been mounted if the dog was, say, a "gas station attendant's dog"?