Family: May dog's death be a warning

HAYDEN LAKE — Bear was doing what he loved — fetching a ball in the water — when he was suddenly sucked under.

The 92-pound chocolate Labrador/pit bull mix was owned by Timberlake High freshman Missy Holbrook. Bear was headed back to a dock on Saturday near the spillways on Hayden Lake just south of Honeysuckle Beach when the current pulled him under water and into a smaller drainage.

A good Samaritan dove in to pull clogged-up debris from the other side of the drainage and road on Monday after hearing search efforts were unsuccessful, and Bear's body was recovered shortly thereafter.

Missy was overcome with emotion on Tuesday when she returned to the drainages off East Hayden Lake Road and saw a memorial and memory board posted by a group that helps re-connect owners with their animals.

The 15-year-old posted her own note in memory of Bear.

"You were everything I could ask for in a best friend," she wrote. "I'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge."

But Missy and 'Lost, Found and Adoptable Pets of CDA' — the group that has rallied to assist the teen during her loss — have another message that was spurred by Bear's death.

They want the Dalton Gardens Irrigation District to post warning signs about the strong current caused by the drainages before another pet or a person gets sucked under. The spillway that took Bear has a metal grate over the upper portion of the drainage but nothing underneath.

"It's like a giant vacuum," Toni Hammer, member of the pet group, said. "There's a lot of water pressure behind it. We just don't want someone to lose their life over this. It's a lot cheaper to put up some signs than to pay for the death of someone after a lawsuit."

Paul Montreuil, a board member of the district, said the district has considered posting signs multiple times over the years only to receive the recommendation of ICRMP, the district's insurer, not to.

"They indicated that by putting up caution signs we'd be exposing the district to even more risk should something happen," Montreuil said. "I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but that's what we were told. If we put up the signs, does it then become a question of did we do enough?"

Montreuil said the district isn't necessarily opposed to posting caution signs, but it wants to follow the guidance of ICRMP. He said the district will revisit the question with ICRMP as a result of Bear's death to see if anything needs to be corrected or clarified.

"That area has typically been open at your own risk for years and years," Montreuil said, adding he could recall one other dog that got sucked under and died. "There's obviously some risk with water flowing the way it does this time of year. It's an area that you have to recognize that, when there is water flowing, it has a lot of force."

Montreuil said he's a dog lover as well and offered condolences to the Holbrooks on behalf of the district.

"We sympathize with them and are sorry that this happened," he said.

Hayden's Rachel Correll, among those who stopped by to sign the memory board, said while some people may recognize the water's force, others may not — and the looks and sounds can be deceiving.

"It sounds so pretty, like a waterfall," said Correll, standing near the drainage. "But it's a deadly waterfall."

Correll said she has taken her dog to the other side of the spillways before. Bear's accident has taught her not to take her dog near those drainages off of East Hayden Lake Road, but she's afraid others will if no signs are posted.

Montreuil said the water's force will subside later this summer to minimal flow. The spillways are left open to lessen the threat of flooding, he said.

"When we tried to close the smaller spillway [where Bear died], we received a letter from property owners concerned that, if we do that, it could result in flooding," he said. "It's a tough situation."

Bear was a year and a half old and owned by Missy for the past nine months.

"It didn't matter what was going on; his family came first," she said. "He'd go find Luke (Holbrook's deaf dog) and bring him back."

Missy's mother, Sharon, said she hopes Bear's story will bring awareness to dangerous drainages and spark warning signs to be posted.

"Please be cognizant of where your dogs and children are playing," she said. "We just lost more than a dog, but a personality and a sweet soul."