Bruno the dog is seen in this handout photo in Saskatoon on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Bruno was stuck for 27 days and had lost nearly half his body weight when he was rescued, barely alive, near his family's home near Estevan on Oct. 14. Bruno has been receiving specialized care at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon and has been given the all-clear to go home.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Western College of Veterinary Medicine
November 11, 2016 - 6:00 AM
SASKATOON - It's a doggone happy ending for a chocolate Labrador retriever that was trapped at the bottom of an abandoned well for nearly a month in southern Saskatchewan.
Bruno was stuck for 27 days and had lost nearly half his body weight when he was rescued, barely alive, near his family's home near Estevan on Oct. 14.
His owners found him when one of their other dogs wouldn't move from a spot in tall grass near a farm field.
Bruno has been receiving specialized care at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon and has been given the all-clear to go home.
Owner John Billesberger says the seven-year-old lab still has some weight to regain and some rehab ahead, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
Bruno's survival was so remarkable it's going to be written up in a clinical report so other veterinarians can learn from his case.
"We had hope," said Billesberger when he came to take Bruno home on Thursday. "It's remarkable seeing him here, just so happy and his tail is wagging. He's got his personality back again."
Billesberger's wife, Cindy, said Bruno will do even better once he's home after 22 days at the Veterinary Medical Centre.
"I think he'll thrive more when he's at the farm and around his friends and in the fresh air and with us."
It's a far cry from the barely alive pooch who was brought to the medical centre.
"When he came in, he was barely walking. He was miserable. The only time he would look at us is when we had food," said Dr. Alison Khoo, a small animal internal medicine resident who managed Bruno's case.
"Now he's like a different dog. He loves going outside. He's still very food-motivated, but he's got a lot of energy back, and he's starting to show more of his personality."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016