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Firefighters rescue dog from well
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Who helps Lassie when she's stuck in a well? The Rockdale County Fire and Rescue Department, of course.

On Saturday around 2 p.m., RCFD firefighters plucked out a local pup that had fallen 20 feet into an abandoned well near the corner of West Hightower Trail and Irwin Bridge Road, according to RCFD Deputy Chief Dan Morgan.

Melissa Johnson, a 19-year old Georgia College and State student and owner of Leslie the Rottweiler, said the dog had been missing for a week before she was discovered in the well.

"We searched night and day for her, for a week," Johnson said. "And then on Saturday, my dad and I retraced all the places we'd seen her."

Johnson's father checked the well just to make sure Leslie was not in it but he was proven wrong. He then called over his daughter, who didn't know what to expect to see at the bottom of the long-been-dry well.

"I was terrified," Johnson said. "I burst into tears."

The first thing Johnson saw was a black animal with glowing eyes, that she was pretty sure was the puppy she rescued about a year and a half ago. When she called to her, Leslie began jumping on the walls, whining and crying, and Johnson knew it was her dog.

"I wanted to jump down the well and grab her," Johnson said.

However, the well was too deep, so she did the next best thing, ran back into the house and grabbed some food and water.

"She ate and drank like crazy, until the fire department got there," Johnson said.

Using a ladder and harness, RCFD personnel went down into the well to retrieve the dog, as Johnson sat nervously awaiting her beloved dog.

"I didn't know what kind of condition I would find her in," Johnson said. "That's what scared me the most about going to find her in the woods."

When the dog came out of the well, with the help of the RCFD all was ok, and Leslie ran for her owner.

"When she came out, she bolted to me," Johnson said. "We put her on a leash and she was pulling us across the yard."

RCFD speculated she had gotten on top of the well covering, which fell apart. The tin well covering was still reportedly partly on when the owner's father took a peek inside and saw Leslie at the bottom.