Dogs That Lived 21 Days In Missile Silo Up For Award

KIRKLAND, WA - As any pet owner knows, dogs and cats (and others) can get into a lot of trouble. That's why Nationwide Insurance created the Hambone Award, an annual honor for a pet who has gotten himself into an astounding amount of trouble.

Of the 12 2018 nominees, three are from Washington. The nominees' stories come from pet insurance claims owners made through Nationwide.

Zeus and Ziva, a pair of German shepherds, managed to get trapped in an abandoned missile silo in Medical Lake earlier this year. Owner Jessica Donges searched everywhere for the dogs, and on the 21st day after their disappearance, she decided to check the abandoned silo near her backyard.

“They were standing in this huge hole filled with about 6 inches of water. I knew I could not lift them out of the hole alone without injuring them, so I called 911,” Donges told Nationwide.

Police and firefighters came and pulled the dogs out, and they emerged from the watery pit wanting to play. The dogs suffered some cuts and major weight loss, but made a full recovery after a few weeks.

Ginger, a mixed cat from Kirkland, had a more harrowing encounter. He sneaked out of the house one night last spring and got into a fight with a predator - possibly a coyote, owner Daniel Deptford told Nationwide - and then ran up into a tree, 20 feet off the ground.

Deptford and his wife, Catherine, waited underneath Ginger with a blanket, anticipating he might fall out of the tree. Ginger did fall, but glanced the side of the blanket and landed on the ground, breaking his leg.

Ginger had to have surgery to repair his leg and broken jaw. But after a few months of recovery, he's now back home with his family.

You can read more about the Hambone Award nominees here.

Images courtesy Nationwide Insurance