The Saint Bernard’s reputation as a brandy-toting, mountaineering lifesaver is the stuff of legend in Europe and for centuries has made for dramatic literary and cinematic storytelling. The human species returned the favor Friday in a quiet suburban neighborhood much closer to sea level in the Twin Cities.
A Saint Bernard weighing well more than 100 pounds found its way onto an overhang outside a second-story window of a home in Spring Lake Park, and firefighters came to the rescue of the brawny pooch.
“A homeowner is requesting a ladder on scene to assist with a Saint Bernard that is stuck on the roof” is how the voice over emergency dispatch audio scanner first broadcast the request for service in the 700 block of Ione Avenue NE.
Firefighters arrived to find the dog on its small perch above a ground-level door. Renee Roth, dog-sitting for her son, was leaning out from the window. She had a grip on one end of a leash, and Whiskey the Saint Bernard was on the other end.