Firefighters Care For Dog While Owner Is In Hospital

For three days last week, the University Place Fire Department was Troy the Dog's home away from home.

The dog belongs to a non-UP woman who was in town for an appointment Jan. 25 at a local medical clinic. According to the fire department, she had a medical emergency. Crews arrived at the scene in the 2600 block of Bridgeport Way West and took the woman to the hospital.

The fire department isn't releasing details about the nature of the woman's medical emergency, saying only that she required a few days in the hospital. What was clear, however, was that she was in no condition to take care of Troy, her dog who was with the woman when firefighters arrived.

"Her concern was for her dog," Johnson said.

The only problem is dogs don't count as family members during hospital visiting hours, and the woman didn't have family or friends in the area - the people firefighters usually give orphaned pets to after emergencies. Crews didn't have a quick solution to the canine quandary.

So, being the public servant and doggy lover that he is, Capt. Dave Kuhn took the dog to the station, where staff and personnel volunteered to care for the temporarily orphaned pooch.

Everyone chipped in, Johnson says, by walking the dog, feeding it, even playing with it. "It was a sweet dog."

This isn't something firefighters do all of the time.

Finally, after the three days, Troy's owner returned to the fire department to pick up her four-legged pal. When she learned how the department adopted the dog until she was released, the woman was in tears.

"It's not something that happens all of the time," Johnson said. "But we did it because it was the right thing to do."