“Are they alive?” Christina Warren asked a caller Monday afternoon when told Warren’s two dogs were trapped in an icy pond near S.W. 58th and Auburn Road.
“Yes, but they don’t have much time,” Tanya Runnebaum said.
Warren said she rushed to the scene near Runnebaum’s house and saw Shawnee County sheriff’s deputies had used a kayak to rescue her two black German shepherds from the pond’s frigid waters on one of the coldest days of the year.
On Wednesday, Warren said she felt “overwhelming joy” that her dogs — 4-year-old Maisie and Maisie’s 2-year-old son, Jango — are alive, well and home with her and her husband, George.
Facebook video had been viewed more than 24,000 times
Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill’s office on Wednesday morning posted on its Facebook page a video showing bodycam footage of the rescue of the dogs, which he said occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m. Monday.
That video by noon Wednesday had been viewed 25,600 times and shared 142 times.
Christina Warren said it was “gut-wrenching” to watch the video and realize how perilous the situation had been.
She expressed tremendous appreciation to everyone who helped find her dogs.
‘You could tell they were hurting’
Maisie and Jango turned up missing about 8:30 p.m. Saturday from their home near S.W. 53rd and Indian Hills Road, Warren said.
They were spotted together later that evening, then not seen until Runnebaum found them in her pond late Monday afternoon, Warren said.
She said while dogs use their sense of smell to find their way home, cold weather can inhibit that sense of smell, which appears to be what happened with Maisie and Jango.
Runnebaum — who lives at “Song Dog Meadow,” a small farm featuring a pumpkin patch and flower farm — said her father first saw the dogs struggling in the pond when they arrived at the nearby home.
“You could tell they were hurting,” she said. “There was definitely a sense of urgency to get them out.”
At the time, the temperature was 12 degrees and the wind chill index was minus 4 at the National Weather Service office in northeast Topeka, the weather service reported.
Runnebaum recognized the dogs as having been reported missing over the weekend by Warren on an online community board for the Auburn community, she said.
She said she called 911, then used Facebook Messenger to contact Warren and her husband.
Runnebaum’s two teenage sons tried unsuccessfully to rescue the dogs from the bank, she said.
Sheriff’s deputies then arrived, learned there was a kayak in the Runnebaum family’s barn and brought it out, she said.
Things are now ‘back to normal’ at home for dogs
The video the sheriff’s office posted on its Facebook page told of how two deputies, whose names weren’t given, arrived at the scene.
It showed how the deputies maneuvered the kayak along the ice to a place near where the dogs could be seen in the water, with their paws draped over the edge of the ice.
The video showed the dogs being pulled from the water and assisted into the kayak.
The Auburn Fire Department then assisted and “pulled the kayak with the deputies and dogs back to shore,” the video said.
The video concluded: “Sheriff Hill commends the decisiveness and quick thinking of these deputies while rescuing these dogs. We appreciate the callers for notifying Dispatch and the teamwork that ensued.”
Warren said things were “back to normal” Wednesday at her home, where she said Maisie was “a little exhausted” but Jango was “doing very well.”
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
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