PORT ANGELES — Fifty feet of climbing rope is not standard issue in Port Angeles Police Department patrol cars, but it turned out to be just what Officer Mike Johnson and David Arand needed to rescue a dog from the Peabody Creek ravine.
The 12-year-old Shadow’s Christmas Eve adventure didn’t last long, but the Lhasa apso gave his owners, Marlema and Shawn Deshazo, a scare when he wandered away from their Whidbey Avenue apartment and ended up at the bottom of the 100-foot embankment.
The Deshazos realized just before 9:30 p.m. that Shadow hadn’t returned from the back yard, adjacent to the ravine, after being let out for a brief toilet break.
While looking for the dog, the two heard him bark, and realized he was in the ravine.
The two officers arrived after Shawn Deshazo, unable to reach the dog, called the police asking for help.
How Shadow, who is nearly blind, was able to negotiate the slope in the dark without getting injured was a mystery to the couple and the officers.
“I still don’t know how it got there in the first place,” said a bewildered Arand on Saturday.
“Once you get to the bottom, it’s absolutely pitch black.”
Slippery climb
The approximately 25-pound dog was easily light enough for either officer to carry, but the muddy and slippery terrain provided no footing out of the ravine.
Arand said their first plan was to make a “little doggy stretcher” out of the rope and a large army blanket in case the dog was injured, and simply walk down to the creek.
“It turned out to not work out so well,” he said.
“It was a lot steeper than we thought it would be. The ground was solid mud.”
Instead, Johnson hooked one end of the rope onto a climbing belt that Arand said he uses as a “liner” for his police belt.
Arand wrapped the other end around a large tree, which was used as an anchor.
After making his own trail to the bottom, Johnson found Shadow stranded among downed logs at the bank of the swiftly moving creek.
Carrying the muddy dog like a football, the one-armed officer carefully walked back up the hillside while Arand kept the rope taut at the other end.
Officers ‘awesome’
“They were awesome,” said a grateful Shawn Deshazo.
“I couldn’t have got him without them,” he said, adding that losing Shadow would have ruined Christmas for him, his wife, and their 2-year-old son, Sean.
Shawn Deshazo said Shadow was hungry but otherwise unfazed.
Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said that, typically, the Port Angeles Fire Department will handle such rescues but, he added, Arand and Johnson clearly had the right tool for the job.
“These guys are always allowed to improv, and do things they are capable to do and stay safe,” he said.
Smith added, “We’re glad we could help these folks out. It would be a very, very sad Christmas to lose a trusted family friend.”
Arand, who is a dog owner, echoed Smith’s comment.
“If my dog was down there, and it was stuck down there, I would certainly [want] people to get some help to get her out,” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.