City worker, neighbor rescue dog from mud
January 12, 2009

“She wasn’t whimpering. She wasn’t moving,” said Ed McCormack, who along with a city worker helped dig the a golden retriever/collie mix out. “If that had been a darker dog, then that would have been a dead dog, because nobody would have seen her.”

Nobody was more thankful for the act of heroism than Jordan’s owner and her family, who now get to spend a little more time with their beloved pet. Jordan has a tumor growing on her nose, and Averill said she likely only has a couple of months before she dies of cancer.

“She has two kids who love her,” Averill said referring to her 4- and 6-year-old children. “And the neighbors love her.”

Jordan was let out of the house to play with McCormack’s dog, but she landed in the thick mud and sunk in until she couldn’t move.

“She doesn’t have any muscle or anything. She’s an old dog, just skin and bones,” said McCormack, who lives next door to Averill. “It was like quicksand — liquid mud.”

Three city workers were in the area clearing mud from the streets when one of them saw Jordan’s golden head sticking out of the mud. When he saw that she was stuck, he told the family.

The mud had risen up Jordan’s chest and to her muzzle, which lay on the surface.

McCormack and the city worker spent several minutes setting Jordan free from the mud, struggling not to fall in as well. McCormack said he never found out the name of that city worker.

McCormack washed Jordan, and the old dog is now starting to fully recover from the experience.

“Her muscles are tired from all that work to get out of the mud,” Averill said. “We’re just really grateful, and we’d love to say thank you to the city workers who helped her.”