When Lucky, a three-legged Australian Cattledog, went missing, her family searched everywhere — but after more than a week, hope was fading. Then one day, Colleen Bell, founder of GoodBoy Dog Recovery, finally caught sight of the lost pup wandering down an alleyway between a cluster of abandoned row houses.
Bell quickly set a food trap, hoping to lure Lucky to safety. But instead, the dog disappeared behind the buildings — and moments later, Bell heard desperate yelps echoing from inside one of the boarded-up homes.
“Some of those houses are completely abandoned and collapsing in on themselves,” Bell told The Dodo. “They’re slated for demolition.”
Peering through a broken basement window, Bell spotted Lucky far below, trapped in a deep pit of debris and rubble. The building had no floors or back wall — easy for a frightened dog to stumble into, but nearly impossible to escape.
“It was such rough terrain,” Bell said. “I can’t even believe she made it down there. She climbed over all this trash and just fell into what used to be the basement.”
Bell was relieved to have finally found the elusive pup — but terrified she wouldn’t be able to get her out safely, especially since Lucky only had three legs.
To make matters worse, the location near Chester, Pennsylvania, had no animal control services, and local authorities refused to send firefighters because the condemned building was deemed unsafe.
That didn’t stop Bell. After 12 years of rescuing lost dogs, she knew she had to find a way.
“I called my brother, my cousin, and a friend of mine,” she said. “I went and got some plywood and two-by-fours.”
Together, the small team worked quickly, building a 24-foot wooden ramp and sliding it through the basement window — the only point of entry. One of Bell’s friends even lay on his back and wriggled through the narrow space to reach the dog.
Meanwhile, Lucky barked and growled in fear, trapped even deeper inside a hole another 5 or 6 feet down. But Bell and her crew stayed calm, gently talking to her as they rigged a makeshift pulley system to lift her out.
After tense moments of careful maneuvering, Lucky was finally pulled to safety.
The moment she was inside Bell’s car, everything changed.
“She was a sweetheart,” Bell recalled. “She just kept looking at me, tail wagging nonstop. She was so happy to be rescued.”
When Bell scanned her for a microchip, she discovered that Lucky’s family lived just a few miles away. They had adopted her from a local shelter — and were overjoyed to learn she’d been found alive.
When Lucky was finally reunited with her family, her tail wagged so hard her whole body shook. After a terrifying ordeal and an incredible rescue, the brave little tripod was home again — right where she belonged.