SORRENTO VALLEY, Calif. (KGTV) — Meet Hobo and his owners Dave and Julia Plant.
Julia told ABC 10News how the 8-year-old Australian Sheppard came into their lives is how he got his namesake.
“In the foothills of the Sierras, Dave was working on a small cabin. And he sat down for lunch outside of cabin and Hobo appeared and Dave gave some of his lunch,” Plant said.
After trying figure out who hobo belonged to, no one claimed him.
“He’s incredibly friendly, very tame and trained to herd cows and very deaf; progressively deaf,” Plant said.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon just before 2 p,m., Julia took Hobo outside who’s typically used to more room to roam than the backyard in Sorrento Valley.
While on his leash, Julia said Hobo saw something down below in the ravine and darted after it.
“It was only about six feet and he turned around to come back up the hill and lost his back leg footing, and the next thing I know he went over backwards,” Plant said.
He tumbled around 100 feet down below into the brush of the ravine.
After realizing she wouldn’t be able to get him out, Julia called for help and the humane society arrived.
@abc10news After rescuing Hobo, the team reunited him with his relieved and grateful owners. #ABC10News #sdhumanesociety ♬ original sound - ABC 10News San Diego
“It was just not a good situation where the dog was, not for people or animals. It was in a very secluded ravine and there was a big drop off just below that,” Lt. Clint Ganus, San Diego Humane Society Disaster Response, said.
Crews from the San Diego Humane Society responded, rappelled down to the dog and worked for four hours to get Hobo out and up to safety.
Luckily, Hobo wasn’t injured in this scenario.
“When you get a win and you see the whole team happy and the animal owner with a big smile on their face,” Ganus said. “You do what you do, you go to bed and you’re happy with what you do.”
As for Hobo, he may not be out here in the near future.
“I’m going to keep him on this very short lead. And then the irony of this all, we’re in the process of putting up a fence just because of him,” Plant said. “It was a miracle. I mean thank God for the Humane Society.”
