A Ramapo woman’s dog went missing from her Cooper Court home one evening after wandering into a backyard drainage pipe. The dog, a 16-year-old blind and deaf terrier named Pepsi, got disoriented inside the pipe and moved further in whenever her owner and neighbors called out to her.
As night fell, a crowd of neighbors and Tallman firefighters gathered to help, digging alongside the pipe and calling to keep the dog awake and moving rather than lying down in the standing water inside. Firefighter Hunter Potter rigged a hook from tent poles and duct tape, guided it into the pipe, and was able to steer the dog toward the opening, where she was coaxed out with peanut butter to applause from the roughly 20 people who had gathered.
The dog was checked out, fed, and put to bed that night none the worse for the ordeal. Her owner said she was overwhelmed with gratitude for the neighbors, the fire department, and Ramapo police who all pitched in.