At first, his mom wasn’t too worried, as this was the third time the 10-year-old Patterdale terrier had disappeared into a hole, chasing something or just exploring. But after calling his name and waiting for him to resurface, he never did, and she began to panic.
“I was worried he might have been stuck, and that’s why he didn’t appear,” Lauren Flintoft, Ziggy’s mom, said in a press release. “My husband Tim spent the whole night trying to entice him out, and when he didn’t emerge, I called in help.”
Flintoft contacted the RSPCA, hoping it could come and help rescue Ziggy from the drain pipe. Once rescuers arrived, the group could map the underground pipes and dig two huge holes to try and uncover where Ziggy was.
Finally, they spotted him, and after removing a little extra clay and soil, the lost pup could wiggle out of the hole. By the time they got to him, Ziggy had been stuck in the drain pipe for 19 hours.
Luckily, Ziggy wasn’t injured and emerged from the hole completely fine, just a little shaken up. He’s doing just fine and hopefully will refrain from any more hole-exploring adventures in the future — but probably not.
“He’s now back home with his owners where he belongs,” Faebian Vann, an animal collection officer with the RSPCA, said in a press release, “and no doubt he’ll be getting up to no good again very soon.”