EDMONTON -- Two dogs needed rescuing from a frozen-over dugout when an Edmonton man happened across them in the water.
"I call them Lucky," joked Ernest Kitt, admitting, "I found out later that their (names are) Bear and Bruiser. I'm not sure which is which."
Kitt was hunting in Strathcona County when he noticed something amiss.
"I hear dogs barking where there shouldn't be dogs," Kitt can be heard saying in a recording of himself.
At first, he says, he thought the animals were maybe beavers.
In the video, he approaches the dogs in the hole in the ice. "OK, guys, I'll get you out of there somehow," he promises.
"I took a video first because I knew I was going to get them out. But I wanted people to know, especially my wife, in case something went wrong."
Kitt brought back a ladder and towropes, but ended up tying himself to the rope and pulling out the pair of canines by their collars.
"I couldn't just let 'em—I hope if someone saw my dog in the water that they'd do something."
Kitt's unsure how long Bear and Bruiser were stranded, but the smaller of the pair struggled to walk after being pulled from the cold water.
"I swear to God, those dogs were lucky I came by because nobody—nobody—else comes here."
Kitt was able to find their home, and the man who was looking after them while his brother is away.
When the trio was reunited after a few days, Bear and Bruiser were feeling better—and very, very, very thankful toward the man who helped them.
"I'm just glad I was there, simple as that."
With files from Dan Grummett
