A patient Chihuahua
“Hans” decided to take a hike on the mountain in Switzerland. It was warm and the ice and snow are particularly dangerous at this time of year. So he took his Chihuahua and a handheld walkie- talkie just in case he slipped or ran a problem with the melting snow. Hans and Pedro explored the Fee Glacier in southern Switzerland on Friday when Hans broke through a snow bridge and fell nearly about 26 feet down to the next layer of the glacier. Since he had the walkie-talkie, Hans connected with a person nearby who relayed the accident to emergency services. But the exact location was unknown. Air Zermatt sent a helicopter up the glacier to try to find him, but all they saw was snow and a few big rocks.
Air Zermatt dispatched a crew with three rescue specialists in the direction of the Fee glacier, but the collapse site was hard to find given the breadth of the glacier’s surface and the small size of the hole Hans made going through the top layer of ice. “Then a decisive moment: After about a half-hour search, the pacing pooch Pedro caught the eye of a rescue team member. One of the rescue specialists spotted a small movement on a rock: the chihuahua!” the company said. As the crew zeroed on the Chihuahua, the hole Hans fell into became more visible. The bird called ground based rescuers. They were able to set up a crane of sorts from timber dropped by the helicopter then they rappelled down to the hole in the ice and talked to Hans in the pit. Using the ropes they pulled Hans up to the surface where he was joined by his excited little dog. The shivering dog barked from a perch next to the hole through which its owner had fallen, allowing rescuers to lift the man to safety while his pet looked on. “Imagine if the dog wasn’t there,” Air Zermatt spokesman Bruno Kalbermatten said by phone. “I have no idea what would happen to this guy. I think he wouldn’t survive this fall into the crevasse.” On its website, the company was effusive: “The dog is a four-legged hero who may have saved his master’s life in a life-threatening situation.” The crew then flew Hans and his canine companion to a hospital for observation.
Teams from Air Zermatt had warned about the danger to hikers posed by crevasses, reporting seven rescue missions within two weeks. St Bernards, weighing in at many times the size of a chihuahua or papillon, are the most common mountain rescue dogs in the Alps, famed for their valor in avalanches and other disasters. They are credited with saving about 2,000 travelers over the past two centuries on the St. Bernard Pass on the border with Italy. However, because they tend to be slow and expensive to feed, many have been replaced over the years by helicopters and heat sensors.
Small dog talk
Did you hear that Apple is developing a robotic service dog?
It’s called the iChihuahua.
My kids want a dog, but I’ve refused to get them a Labrador.
It’s frightening how many Labrador owners you see that have gone blind.
I entered my Chihuahua in an ‘ugliest dog’ contest and I won first place!
My dog came in third.
A priest rabbi and a chihuahua walk into a blood bank.
The receptionist asks can I help you?
The chihuahua says I think I might be a type O!
July 10th Birthdays
1988 – Katie Pavlich, 1994 – Carla Jeffery, 1981 – Jessica Simpson, 1972 – Sofía Vergara
1947 – Arlo Guthrie, 1943 – Arthur Ashe, 1965 – Urban Meyer, 1989 – Antonio Brown,