Dog stands guard for a week protecting trapped friend
<p>In this Tuesday photo provided by Amy Carey, of Vashon Island Pet Protectors, a setter mix named Tillie, left, watches over Phoebe, a basset hound who was trapped after falling into the cistern nearly a week earlier before being rescued by searchers on Vashon Island, Wash.</p>
VASHON ISLAND, Wash. (AP) - A Washington animal shelter says a dog dutifully stood guard for a nearly a week on Vashon Island to protect another dog that had fallen into a cistern.
Tillie, a setter mix, only left Phoebe's side to try to alert people of her trapped friend.
Amy Carey of Vashon Island Pet Protectors said the two were found Tuesday after they were reported missing by their owners last week. Vashon Island Pet Protectors said volunteers looking for the pair received a call about a reddish dog being seen on someone's property a few times before promptly heading back into the ravine.
Carey said the Pet Protectors followed the tip and found Tillie lying beside an old cistern. Inside rescuers found Phoebe, a basset hound, on a pile of stones above the water.
The dogs were cold and hungry but otherwise unharmed.
"It's really quite remarkable," Carey said.