Four days of faint barking finally led neighbors to a dog trapped in an unused cistern under a house in Waynesburg, Greene County.

Matthew Burris told Channel 4 Action News' Marcie Cipriani that after a few days of hearing the faint yelping, curiosity finally brought him to his neighbor's home, where he discovered the dog Monday.

Advertisement

"I saw a dog sitting in the corner back over there. (It) looked kind of scared," said Burris, who called the Greene County Humane Society for help.

Jane Gapen, the group's director, said the dog apparently pushed through the lattice under a porch and fell through some rotted boards into the cistern below.

"It was black in there and it was almost like I had to go through a little 'Alice in Wonderland' hole," said Gapen. "I climbed down the ladder, and once I got down there, the ladder disappeared into water, which was a bit of an eerie feeling."

Gapen said the hole was 8-feet deep, so they needed to devise a plan to get the dog out.

"We arranged a leash system, and I connected her to it, then folks up above on the ground pulled her up out," said Gapen.

Gapen said the dog's tag revealed that her name was Shelby, but as of Tuesday afternoon, they have not been successful in their attempts to find her owner.

Shelby is a beagle mix, believed to be about 2 1/2 years old.

Police said the home's owner had lived there more than 20 years and didn't even know there was an unused cistern under his front porch.

"It feels good to help," said Burris. "I just wanted to make sure the dog was OK."