Smell ya later! Colorado dog safe but stinky after being rescued from wastewater treatment plant

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Gidget, according to sources, is still super smelly even post-baths, but the important thing is that she’s safe and happy to be home after her ordeal at a wastewater treatment plant in Colorado.

The 2-year-old mastiff’s woes began in a way that didn’t surprise her owners.

Her “sibling,” Buddy, a Houdini-like hound with a knack for escaping their home in Pueblo West, let them both out for a stroll. Buddy came home midday Monday. He was wet and muddy. And Gidget was nowhere to be found.

Owner Mandi Smith, of course, went out to search.

In the meantime, the folks at a wastewater treatment plant a few miles from Smith’s house heard Gidget barking for help. Tony Campbell found the dog on the edge of an aeration pond. Since nothing floats in wastewater, Campbell couldn’t save her himself. A crew from the Pueblo West Fire Division was called in and used a ladder to reach Gidget.

After a thorough hose-down, she was transferred to the care of Pueblo Animal Services, where she got two decontamination baths at the shelter before being returned to her owners.

“Everybody at the shelter just loved her,” Smith told WSB Radio. “She was a star.”

She added that the pup was ecstatic to be home.

“Out of all the dogs, she’s the baby of the house.”

Both dogs were treated to lots of love — and soap.

“They have gotten so many baths and they still smell,” Smith said. “The poor bulldog is keeping her distance.”