2 Rottweilers rescued from Gage Canal in Riverside

A Riverside County animal control officer rescued two Rottweiler dogs stuck in the Gage Canal on the Fourth of July, according to the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

The Rottweilers were located in the Gage Canal near Jackson Street and just south of the California Citrus State Historic Park in Riverside.

A passerby walking with her husband and their own dogs noticed the trapped Rottweilers at about 6 a.m. and called Animal Services, leading to their rescue within 30 minutes.

“All of a sudden we saw two, big, black heads pop up and they started barking,” Carolyn Badger said in a statement. “There were some ducks keeping them company, too.”

Animal Services Officer Mike Cox rescued the dogs with assistance from Sgt. Jason Sanders and Officer Ramon Rodriguez, according to the department. A Riverside city employee helped the officers by unlocking a security gate where one of the dogs remained. The female Rottweiler swam under the fence toward Cox, but the male remained on the other side.

Cox said the dogs are very fortunate the water level was low and a good Samaritan spotted the pair so early in the morning.

“Both dogs appear to be in good shape — just tired and very wet,” he said in a statement.

The dogs were transported to the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley.

“I’m assuming fireworks played a factor in how they ended up in the canal,” Cox said. “Dogs running scared is very common at this time of year. They might have run into the canal or were dehydrated and tried to get water from the canal and took the plunge.”

The canal, which dates to the mid-1880s and is key to irrigating the region’s citrus groves, is not very deep, but its slimy walls make it hard for dogs to climb out —something that Animal Services officers have observed occasionally.

Both Rottweilers were “naked dogs,” an Animal Services term denoting dogs that do not have collars nor microchips, officials said. Cox used a microchip scanner in the field, but the scan yielded no information.

“We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have dog tags and microchips for your pets,” Animal Services Director Erin Gettis said in a statement. “This is critical for faster reunions in the field. I feel so bad that these dogs ended up in the canal, but so happy they were spotted and rescued.”

Badger, the reporting passerby, is the board president of the Animal Solutions Konnection Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists the county with grants and programs.

“Thank goodness they were saved so quickly,” Badger said in a statement. “There were so many illegal fireworks last night. I feel terrible for all the frightened dogs out there.”