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Jon-David Fullmer had just arrived at Colorado National Monument, ready to take in the view, when things took a terrifying turn.
As he opened his car door to leash his dog, she bolted - sprinting over the barricade and straight off a cliff.
Yogie plunged more than 33m and landed on a rock shelf deep in the canyon below. Fullmer was beside himself.
“I died in my heart,” said Fullmer, who lives in Salt Lake City and was visiting Colorado when it happened on March 31. “I felt like it was my fault.”
Fullmer said Yogie - a 3-year-old Border collie - had never done anything like that before. “She’s always wanted to be leashed,” he said.
Yogie probably thought she was at a park where she could run, Fullmer said, and didn’t see the cliff until it was too late. He peered down the canyon and saw her, but could not figure how to get to her.
“There was just no way down,” Fullmer said.
In a panic, Fullmer called 911. An officer from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office arrived and realized he could not perform the rescue himself. Police called Mesa County Search and Rescue, and within 30 minutes, 10 volunteers showed up.
Greg Mundorf, a volunteer with Mesa County Search and Rescue, led the rescue mission.
“We looked around the scene and came up with the best course of action to go down and get the dog,” Mundorf said.
Although they could see Yogie was alive, she was barely moving.
“The dog was pretty much sitting at the base just being still,” Mundorf said. “We were concerned about injuries.”
Fullmer grew increasingly worried.
“I thought she was down there suffering and would need to be put down,” Fullmer said. “I was so sad.”
Rescuers used a twin-tension rope system to lower one volunteer down to the dog’s level.
“They were in a system that’s tied to anchors at the top,” Mundorf explained, noting that rescuers were wearing climbing gear.
One male volunteer descended, but when he got close to Yogie, she was afraid and wouldn’t go near him. A female rescuer went down with tons of treats but still could not get a leash around Yogie. Finally, a third rescuer descended with a dogcatcher pole, and was able to secure Yogie, who weighs about 18kg.
“The dog ended up getting put in a specially made canine harness and then was attached to a rescuer,” said Mundorf, adding that the effort took about three hours. “The rest of the team hauled all three members individually, and one team member with the dog.”
Watching the rescuers bring Yogie back up brought Fullmer to tears.
“I love this dog,” Fullmer said, adding that he didn’t think he’d see her alive again. “I thought no matter what, she was done.”
He was deeply moved by the dedication of the rescue team.
“I was so proud of what these people did. [They] just dropped what they were doing to come and save this dog,” he said. “It was very, very special. … I’ve been emotional about the kindness.”
Two volunteers - Jeanine Camp and Emma Fox - stood out in particular, Fullmer said. They were the two women who went down to get Yogie and spent the time to make her feel comfortable.
“They’re just so selfless. They would have stayed there for two days,” Fullmer said. “I can’t express how grateful I am.”
Once Yogie was safely back on solid ground, Fullmer brought her straight to a vet to be examined. She was acting like herself.
“She came up the mountain like nothing happened,” he said.
Still, Fullmer worried about internal bleeding and trauma, and was baffled to learn she had only some minor scrapes.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Fullmer said.
Rescuers were equally stunned.
“It was actually pretty miraculous,” Mundorf said, adding that rescuers believe Yogie broke her fall by landing on some bushes. “Luck was definitely a factor.”
One thing is for sure: “Going forward, I’m going to leash her in my car,” Fullmer said.
He described Yogie as “a loyal, beautiful dog.”
“Now I feel even more of a bond with her,” he said. | The Washington Post