Wandering pooch starts 2012 on a rocky note

MADDOX entered 2012 from a dizzy height.

On New Year’s Eve, the partially blind chow-cross-husky dog vanished from his temporary abode when his owner, Ashley Sisson, was between homes and had moved from Fish Hoek to her parents’ place in Simon’s Town.

His wanderings took him a kilometre towards Fish Hoek, until he became trapped on a ledge, between cliffs, up on Glencairn mountain.

“We were so worried about him,” said Sisson, who realised on Saturday afternoon that the dog she had adopted a year ago from the rescue facility, the Domestic Animal Rescue Group (Darg), was missing.

“I asked around. But I trusted someone would be in touch because our contact details are on his collar.”

The first people to find Maddox on his uncomfortable perch were apparently two children, on New Year’s morning, she said. “They were throwing stones near him, trying to guide him to where he could get off the ledge.”

However, it was eventually members of the National Sea Rescue Institute who rescued Sisson’s dog later on New Year’s Day.

Their efforts included the use of a rope, and Maddox was brought safely down the mountain. “He’s a very special dog,” said Sisson. – Sapa