Larry Thompson of West Virginia was finally able to rescue his fourteen year old Dalmatian, Alex, after trying three days to reach him. (Play video.) You can hear the intense relief and emotion in Thompson’s voice the moment he pulls Alex free of the pipe. I can only imagine how Thompson felt, especially considering he headed up the rescue efforts himself.
It’s believed that Alex crawled into the storm drain to beat the heat on Thursday. He apparently crawled the length of the 80 foot pipe, turned around and got stuck. On Friday, his family realized he was missing and the rescue efforts began with Thompson using a back hoe to try to reach him. When a heavy rainstorm hit, he had to dig a culvert to divert run-off from the opening of the storm drain in which Alex was stuck. By Sunday night, they still hadn’t reached Alex, so at 3AM Larry Thompson called his cousin and asked if he’d drive to Kentucky to get an excavator. His cousin was at Thompson’s yard at 8AM and they finally got Alex out a little bit later. Alex had been 20-25 feet underground. It looks like, despite everything, the Dalmatian is going to be okay and Thompson will be putting a cover on the pipe opening.
WOW what a great storie.We have 2 Dalmatians of our own and like this gentleman would do anything for our dogs.Alot of men would have just left the dog for dead being such an old dog. Bravo Mr Thompson you are truly a Great human being!!May God Bless YOU. Ed and Linda Geiss, Katy Tx.
The man (Larry Thompson) who saved his dog from the drain is not only a hero to his dog and our community, he is also a hero to me. He’s my dad…..A very wonderful and special person! Christy