A 190-pound mastiff named Floyd needed several helping hands Sunday after becoming exhausted on a hike in Utah, requiring a rescue team to carry him down the mountain.
“He was very tired,” Shawn Kenney, a squad leader with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue unit, told HuffPost.
The all-volunteer, nonprofit rescue organization responded to a report Sunday that Floyd and his unidentified owner needed help on Grandeur Peak Trail, located in mountains outside Salt Lake City, according to a now-viral Facebook post featuring multiple photos of the dog’s rescue.
Floyd, his owner and other human members of the family had hiked up the mountain but took a wrong turn on the way back, Kenney said, adding that it’s a common mistake on this particular trail. The group ended up heading down a “really steep” descent that Kenney described as a “nightmare.”
It was when the family turned and attempted to go back to where they had made the wrong turn that the dog plopped down and refused to budge.
While Floyd at this point was suffering from some cuts on his paws, Kenney said exhaustion was the primary reason the mastiff decided that for him, the hike was over.
“The dog was mostly tired,” said Kenney. “It’s a really big hike and it’s a huge dog.”
With no cell service on the mountain or any easy way to mobilize the heavy canine, Floyd’s owner opted to stay with him while the others ― a group that included small children and at least one other adult ― continued down the trail.
For Floyd’s part, he took pretty well to being rescued, which involved him being put into a litter and wheeled partway down the mountain, then carried in the litter after the wheel broke.
“He was just chill,” Kenney said. “He knew he was getting carried out. He just laid there and enjoyed the ride.”
Though Kenney hasn’t been in touch with Floyd’s owner since Sunday, he said the man’s sister has passed along that the pet is doing well and has been resting.
Kenney added that ever since the story made the news, he’s been hearing from numerous people who have mastiffs that Floyd’s response to the exertion that wore him out isn’t unusual for the breed.
“When they go for walks with those kind of dogs, they bring a wagon with them,” he said.