Oelwein authorities rescue dog from well, search for owner

OELWEIN - An Oelwein woman found something unexpected in her yard Wednesday morning.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Office said a dog fell into a well at a home off 50th Street. It's at a rural area just northeast of Oelwein.

'It's an old well. It's not the well that we actually use now,” said Christina Edmonds.

Edmonds doesn't go around the old well in her yard very often, but on Wednesday she couldn't stay away. She heard a dog's bark echoing out of the eight-foot deep pit that sits next to her dog's kennel.

'My boyfriend went to work and he's like there's a dog in that well. And I was like ‘oh my gosh how are we going to get it out?',” Edmonds said.

She said the well pit was covered with heavy boards, but the stray dog must have slipped through.

'He was just sitting down in there and so I threw a piece of bread at him because I didn't know how long he had been not eating,” Edmonds said.

She called the sheriff's department. The fire department also responded. The team quickly worked to get the dog out.

'[The dog] was very docile when I looked down through the opening,” said Oelwein Fire Department Chief Wallace Rundle.

'I went down and made contact with the dog and was fairly friendly,” said Oelwein Fire Department firefighter Nathan Westendorf.

'We got the cage down there, the firefighter got the dog in and then shut it and we attached a harness and brought it up,” Chief Rundle said.

Despite falling down an eight foot hole, the dog is happy and healthy. He's staying warm at the Oelwein Veterinarian Clinic.

'From all we can tell, it looks like he is doing fine,” said Dr. Ken McDonough, the veterinarian who examined the dog.

This pit bull mix is making a lot of new friends, with those in the vet's office and other visitors.

'He would probably sit next to anybody who would pet him,” Dr. McDonough said.

After a long day, this one-year-old puppy is doing just fine and ready for a home.

'Everybody ended up happy on this one,” Chief Rundle said.

The sheriff's department still is looking for the dog's owner. If anyone has information, they're asked to call the Fayette County Sheriff's Office at 563-422-6067. The vet's office said if no one comes forward; it'll look for someone to adopt the dog.