Deputy's Chest Compressions Save an Old Dog

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ORION TOWNSHIP, MI – An Oakland County deputy performed chest compressions after rescuing a dog from a chilly Orion Township creek bed, saving the pooch’s life.

The dog, a 15-year-old white poodle mix that no longer sees or hears well and has symptoms of dementia and mobility issues, wandered away after Janet Lane let him out of her family’s home about 3 a.m. Friday morning.

Lane searched for him with a flashlight, she told the Detroit Free Press. When daylight came, they searched the woods and wetlands, creek beds. Lane wondered if Rocky “had gone off somewhere to die,” Lane told the Free Press. Dogs do that sometimes.

About 19 hours after Rocky disappeared, a man living in the 2000 block of Marie Drive heard an animal in distress somewhere near his residence, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.

Deputies responded to his call for help and found Rocky stuck in the creek bed. He had obvious signs of hypothermia and appeared lifeless, the sheriff’s office said. The man who called authorities brought along blankets to warm the dog while the deputy began performing the chest compressions.

Rocky had tags, so authorities were able to trace him back to the Lane family, who had adopted him a decade earlier when his previous owner could no longer keep the pooch.

Late Friday night, they got the call that Rocky had been found and was alive.

“Oh my God. It was great,” Lane told the Free Press. “We had given up all hope. It’s definitely a great ending. Who wants to die out by themselves?”

Through the night, the family tended Rocky, wrapping him in towels and blankets to keep him warm and using a hair dryer to provide additional heat.

The next day, they took Rocky and the stuffed teddy bear they’d given him for Christmas to a veterinarian.

He’s recovering at home.

“He’s a tough old guy,” Lane said.

» Photo via Oakland County Sheriff’s Office