Shopkeeper rescues canine that spent hours in water-filled pit
Snowbird – Daisy and Ace somehow got past the wireless dog fence that had been keeping them safe at home off Poison Branch Road the night of May 29 and went on an adventure that nearly cost Daisy her life.
The two wandered in the darkness for about a mile before they found a way through the fence at the old Stanley Furniture plant off Snowbird Road. While exploring the disused 37-acre plan, Daisy fell into a 7 ½-foot concrete-lined pit filled with greasy water.
No one knows how long she had to tread water, but it was at least five hours and possibly as long as 12 hours. It was long enough for her to wear her claws on all four paws down to nubs.
Her cries for help fell on the ears of the exact right person to help her.
Donnie Burchfield owns BTAC (Burchfield Trading and Cleanout), a thrift store on Snowbird Road across the street from the old Stanley plant.
Shortly after arriving at work that Monday morning, he heard Daisy’s cries and called the Graham County Sheriff’s Office. Along with three deputies – A.J. Brown, Matt Cox and Courtney Heaton – the four set out to find the dog in distress.
The four combed the grounds before they came across a dog – Ace, they would later learn, who ran off when they approached. Thinking that Ace was the dog they were looking for, the four ended the search, assuming all was well.
About five hours later, back at his shop, Burchfield heard it again – the sound of a dog in distress. He got in his truck and drove along the perimeter before getting stuck in a ditch. On foot, he entered the Stanley grounds and followed the dog’s whimpers.
While searching through high grass, he worked past his fear of snakes – you get bit by a copperhead and not be afraid of snakes. He found her this time, exhausted and near death, barely keeping her head above water.
Burchfield got to the ground and leaned into the pit, grabbing the grease-slicked dog with all his might and refusing to let her go.
“I couldn’t not help her,” Burchfield said.
The dog was too heavy and too slick for him to haul her out on his own, but he managed to reach his cell phone and, with his nose, punched in a number to call Bass Henderson, a friend he works with at BTAC.
Across the road, Henderson saw Burchfield laying on the ground and assumed he collapsed. He fetched his son to help with what they thought was a medical crisis. They grasped the situation once they got closer and helped Burchfield haul the dog to safety.They put Daisy into the back of a pickup and took her across the street to BTAC, where she fell into a long, deep sleep through the night and into the next day. Before he opened his thrift store about four years ago, Burchfield worked 30 years in law enforcement. He was the K-9 deputy for the Graham County Sheriff’s Office before he retired as a lawman due to failing vision. As he puts it, he went from being Andy Griffith to Fred Sanford.
He gave the dog a temporary name – Valvoline – and noticed that she had an eye infection, so he took her to a veterinarian who discovered that she had been chipped by a service that the vet didn’t have access to.
Putting his investigative skills to work, Burchfield contacted five chip companies before he found the right one. The chip company gave Burchfield the owner’s first name and last initial while it attempted to make contact.
Coincidentally, Burchfield knows someone with that first name and last initial who happens to live near the old Stanley plant. He called them to tell them he had their dog — only it wasn’t their dog.
Meanwhile, the chip company contacted the real owner, who came for her dog on Tuesday afternoon. The Graham Star reached out to the owners without success.
Oak Valley Hardwoods is listed as the owner of the property. The plant is surrounded by a chainlink fence and its gates are locked, but the fence has gaps and has been known to attract teenagers. Law enforcement patrols the area looking for trespassers. The Graham Star has reached out to Oak Valley Hardwoods but has not yet received a response.