ELLSWORTH – An 11-year-old dog took a ride into the Union River Friday afternoon and came out dry and none the worse for wear.

Shadow, called a “miracle dog” by his owner Tish Noyes of Sorrento, was in the back seat of Noyes’ Honda Civic when it rolled across the parking lot at the Dead River Co. on Water Street, down an embankment and into the river.

Noyes was in the office arranging for winter fuel, and when she came out, her car with the dog inside was missing.

“I thought it had been stolen,” she said. “I mean somebody out here would have seen it rolling.”

She ran back into the office to report the theft, but Dead River employee Monica Tozier said she doubted that the car had been stolen.

“I’d seen it through the window there,” she said. “She was running the other way, and I said, ‘Could it have gone in the river?’ We took off running.”

The car had rolled down a 10-15-foot embankment and the front end was under water. It appeared that old wooden pilings and rocks had prevented the vehicle from submerging.

The two women waded into the river to get to the dog.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Noyes said. “It was so surreal.”

“He was just laying in the back of the car, cool, calm and collected,” Tozier said.

Ellsworth firefighters and police officers arrived on the scene and, with the two women, helped get the dog out of the car.

Firefighters secured the vehicle with a chain to make sure it did not slip farther into the river while they waited for a wrecker to arrive. Although part of the interior had been under water, it did not appear that there was serious damage to the car.

Noyes will let the vehicle dry out for a few days before trying to drive it again.

Shadow did not appear to be upset by the adventure, Noyes said, noting that Shadow was a special dog, which she inherited when his former owner died.

“He’s escaped death three times, including being run over by a car,” she said. “I call him a miracle dog. I think his former owner is watching over us.”

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

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