Dog falls through the ice at Cherry Lake

An Australian "cow dog" named "Bubba" is happy to be alive after falling through thin ice on Cherry Lake Wednesday.

Wednesday's warming made ice on the lake spotty and while Bubba was making his daily trek across the frozen waters, the ice gave way and "Bubba" sank.

The dog's owner is Pam Wright, who lives at the very end of the road that winds past the two dozen homes and cabins there.

"I almost lost my dog, Bubba," she said. "He fell through the ice and was trapped, cold and exhausted."

It was actually a passerby who saw the dog trying to paw his way to solid ice, but there was no way he was going to make it, surrounded by more thawing ice and no strength to leap out of the water onto another patch.

"My neighbors Ron Johnson, Broady McCauley and Keesha Eaton automatically teamed up and did all that was necessary to get him out," Pam said.

At first, they found a paddle boat docked nearby and tried to cross the open water to get to the dog. But, they couldn't cut through some of the ice that was in the way.

At various times they jumped into the water with a safety line around them in an effort to get to Bubba. They got cold and had to get back out.

Then a rope was tied to the boat as neighbors on the bank began pulling the boat through the broken ice to get closer to the dog.

Finally, the boat was pulled within reach of Bubba and the dog-tired Bubba was lifted out of the water into the paddle boat.

"It was absolutely amazing," said Pam, who watched the intrepid rescue from the bank of the lake.

"They saved my dog. And, for that, I am sincerely grateful. Today, I watched a group of heroes save my dog's life," she said.

"Thank you!"

By the end of the afternoon Bubba had been dried off, was fed and back to his old self.

Pam's granddaughter, Payge Myers, dropped by to check on Bubba and her grandmother.

Temperatures were expected to warm back into the 60s by the weekend as all of the now-dangerous ice disappears.