Frantic barks from a distant canyon lead rescuers to 3 lives in need of saving
Tony Buttitta stood in a remote area of Texas Canyon outside Santa Clarita, California, listening to a dog barking in the distance.
“It just kept barking and barking and barking,” Buttitta told The Dodo.
Earlier that morning, Buttitta and Michael Kaericher, two Santa Clarita Valley Search and Rescue team members, had trekked into the canyon to scout a training exercise location.
With 25 years of search and rescue experience, Buttitta clocked a few other climbers in the remote area when they hiked in, but no dogs.
Worried someone in a nearby valley had fallen while out walking their dog, Buttitta and Kaericher set off to investigate.
They followed the sound of the barking for about 10 minutes when they spotted a black, white and tan pup.
“He was barking at us and running towards us,” Buttitta said, “and turning around and running back up the hill, and seemed like he wanted us to follow him.”
The pair followed the frantic dog, named Axel, to a steep incline, where they saw two more dogs sitting among the dust and rocks.
Immediately, Buttitta could tell one of them, a large pit bull named Oden, was overcome with fear.
“[He] was just kind of frozen in a precarious spot,” Buttitta said. “Like, he couldn't go up and he couldn't go down. Well, he could, but he was just scared.”
The search and rescue duo didn’t have the ideal equipment to get three dogs down a mountain, but they refused to leave the pups alone. Carefully, Buttitta and Kaericher inched up the steep hill.
“The biggest problem was, you know, every time you took a step, the ground would just give way,” Buttitta said.
After initially growling at the strangers, the dogs warmed to their rescuers. The men sat with the three pups for a few minutes while they called for backup.
Using a large strap he had on him, Buttitta created a makeshift leash for Oden. Then, the group began the treacherous journey down the steep mountain.
Due to the uneven and crumbling terrain, both men spent a lot of time on their butts, inching along, making sure all three dogs were in tow. In some spots, Buttitta picked up each dog and handed him to Kaericher, to prevent the pups from falling over a ledge.
“There was a couple, like, 2- to 4-foot drop-offs,” Buttitta said. “We were basically coming down a waterfall.”
Occasionally, Oden’s fear would get the better of him, and he’d refuse to continue on. But Archie and Axel supported him the entire way.
“The other dogs would come up and kind of encourage him and jump on him,” Buttitta said.
After 30 minutes, the group made it to flatter ground, where the dogs seemed relieved and much more comfortable. Aside from some scratches on Oden’s paw pads, they were unharmed.
A phone number on Oden’s collar led the search and rescue team to the dogs’ owners, who lived on a farm about 6 miles away.
The trio had been missing since the day before, and probably would’ve been in worse shape had Axel stopped barking. Buttitta thinks they simply roamed too far and got stuck.
After a happy reunion with their family, the three pups guzzled some water and climbed into the owners' truck.
“I went over to say goodbye to the dogs and, like, all three of them were sound asleep,” Buttitta said. “They were just happy to be sitting on their owners' laps and sleeping away in the truck.”
