Photo: Dove Lewis Animal Hospital
Photo: Dove Lewis Animal HospitalLINCOLN CITY, OR (KPTV) -
An 18-month-old dog named Nora is back at home with her family in West Linn and her owner says it is nothing short of incredible.
Nora survived a fall off a 150-foot cliff while also tumbling down another 200 feet.
"Well, I think she's definitely a miracle pup," said Leah Dymock, Nora's owner.
Dymock and her family were hiking the Roads End Trail in Lincoln City over the weekend and Nora was running back and forth ahead of them.
But when the trail became steep, it hit Dymock's husband that their retriever-poodle mix was nowhere to be found.
"He gets to the top and realizes it's a cliff," said Dymock. "It's a beautiful view but it's a cliff and it dawns on him, I haven't seen the dog!"
Dymock's family said a prayer together and then she called 911.
While Dymock spoke to search and rescue personnel, her husband tried to spot Nora down below.
Suddenly, they spotted their dog.
"He looks over and sees her and then looks up from where she fell and he's like, 'Wow, that's 100 to 150 feet of a vertical fall and then another 200 feet of falling to where she ended up,'" said Dymock. "And so he calls her and she lifts up her little head and tries to scoot, but she couldn't move."
Luckily it was low tide and North Lincoln firefighters found Nora within minutes. They scooped her up and rushed her to a local veterinarian, who told Dymock it didn't look good.
"He basically told us to say our goodbyes. He said, 'You know, I really don't think she's going to make it, because at that point, the X-ray showed she had a punctured lung.'"
Dymock's family took a chance and drove Nora to Dove Lewis Animal Hospital in Portland.
When they arrived, Veterinarian Ladan Mohammad-Zadeh couldn't believe her eyes.
"Our experiences are a dog falls several hundred feet and they're going to have broken limbs and bloody wounds and she, miraculously, did not," said Mohammad-Zadeh.
Nora had a few broken ribs and a punctured lung, but doctors relieved the air pressure in her chest with a needle. No surgery was needed.
Nora and her family reunited a couple days later. Dymock is grateful, not only for answered prayers, but also Nora's fighting spirit.
"She's been a great dog for our family and she'll have a lot more years to come," she said.
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