Owner Uses GPS Device To Rescue Hunting Dog From Pipe

MASHPEE (CBS) - It's a story about a hunting dog, her owner and a rescue on the Cape. Throw in a GPS device and a sleepless night and you have a happy ending.

"This is Bell. She's an eight year old English Coonhound," says Bell's owner Weston Radway.

And Bell is one lucky dog. She and Weston were in the woods in Mashpee last night. "I'm out here three or four nights a week in the woods, training the dog," says Weston.

That's training for Coonhound competitions where it's all about the relationship between human and dog, and teaching the dog to tree a raccoon. "They become like your family, your friend and you don't want anything happening to them," Weston says.

And Bell is a winner. "She beat out roughly 684 other dogs, I think, to be crowned champion," Weston says, remembering a competition a few years ago.

They train at night because that's when raccoons are active. Last night while Bell was in hot pursuit, she went where she shouldn't. "She chased a raccoon into a pipe," says Weston.

A 12-inch plastic drainage pipe. "I had my light on and I looked in the pipe and I saw her about 60 to 80 feet into the pipe," he says.

Bell couldn't figure out how to back out. "She was stuck in there and she couldn't turn around because of the diameter of the pipe," says Weston.

Police and fire came, but said nothing could be done until daybreak. Weston reluctantly went home. "I didn't sleep at all. I stared at the ceiling all night long," Weston says.

But he was back early. And because Bell was wearing a special GPS collar, Weston was able to figure out roughly where she was in the pipe. He dug a few feet ahead of that point, exposed the plastic pipe and cut it. "I knew that if I was here and opened up a hole she would come out," he says.

It worked. "When she got out she looked like a woodchuck coming out of his hole. She was as happy as could be. I moved that pipe and she popped right up and she was glad to see me, and the tail was going and it was a big relief on my part that she was out and safe and she was happy," he says with a smile.

Weston, who has a construction background, says he replaced the piece of plastic pipe he cut. Bell is tired, but there's no permanent damage after a very long night.