Spike is one lucky dog.

Fire District 3 firefighters rescued the 22-pound carren terrier after it had tumbled 50 feet down the steep bluff off Indian Point Road in Langley Friday night. Rescuers pulled the happy pooch to safety just after midnight.

The trouble began after the dog disappeared from his home Thursday night. Sharon Boyle, his owner, began a frantic search for the missing animal.

To make matters worse, the 12-year-old canine is blind. But the plucky dog alerted rescuers to his location by barking.

“We don’t know exactly when he fell over the cliff. We didn’t hear him until 24 hours later, even though we had been searching and calling him,” Boyle said.

Nine volunteers responded to the scene. At

11 p.m. or so, firefighters set up for a rope rescue attempt.

“The dog led us to its location below the cliff by barking and whimpering,” said Jon Beck, assistant fire chief of Fire District 3.

Lucky thing, too, because Beck said that was the only way firefighters could have found the dog on the side of the cliff.

While firefighter Brian Vick went over the cliff to search for Spike, the dog’s anxious owner waited on top for her beloved pet.

“Spike was beginning to sound pretty pathetic,” Boyle said.

“I didn’t know what condition he would be in.”

Vick rappelled down the steep cliff and plucked the pooch from the dense underbrush and a small outcropping it had landed on.

Spike was so deep in the blackberry brambles and brush that he couldn’t be seen from above.

But Spike was patient and seemed to know help was on the way.

“He was scared. But he settled down when I got down to him,” Vick said.

“Spike willingly to Brian,” Beck said.

He was pulled to safety without a scratch on him.

“I expected him to be dirty and scraped up from the fall, but he was fine,” Boyle said.

The dog and his family were quickly reunited.

“I think that Brian was the hero of the evening for going over the bluff. I am grateful to every member the team of the team,” Boyle said.

“I had been searching since the evening before with my other dog, also a carren terrier. The two of them generally go out together and we watch Spike closely but he slipped away this time,” she said.

Spike was blinded four years ago when he was kicked in the head by a deer.

“Spike is a lucky guy for surviving his ordeal. His handicap of being blind did not stop him from helping with the rescue,” Beck added.

Since Spike’s rescue, he has been sleeping and eating a lot Boyle said.

Gayle Saran can be reached at 221-5300 or gsaran@southwhidbeyrecord.