Dog survives 4 days in overturned river boat

FAIRBANKS — A 30-pound dog reportedly survived a harrowing flip of a boat in an Alaska river and then a four-day ordeal without food as she remained trapped in the small craft.

Boat owner Jeremy McDonald reached his damaged boat May 30 on the Chena River and heard noises inside, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

A retrieval crew righted the boat, and from beneath the dashboard in the bow, out popped Cutie, a Labrador retriever and terrier mix.

“It was crazy,” McDonald, 34, said. “I get to the side of the boat, look in there and she barks and growls at me.”

“I said, `Guys, she’s alive. Let’s get this boat turned over,’” he said.

They hooked a rope to the boat and turned it over.

“As soon as we did, she comes walking out shaking and scared,” McDonald said. “I was pretty sure we were going to go there and find a dead dog.

“It was pretty much a miracle.”

McDonald, two friends and the dog were boating May 26 when they stopped to grab a float bag drifting by. Against a log in the swollen river, the boat took on water and flipped. One person on board was briefly trapped under a log but managed to break free.

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