Recovering dog reunited with family after spending 27 days trapped in Sask. well

We first heard Bruno’s amazing story of survival in October, but now we’re actually meeting Saskatchewan’s luckiest dog.

Bruno has come an incredibly long way in his recovery after being admitted to the intensive care unit at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon after being trapped in at the bottom of a well near Estevan, Sask. for 27 days.

Today his family picked him up and introduced him to the media. Owner Cindy Billesberger said she’s just happy to have her dog back. So are all of his K-9 friends.

“We have two other labs, so they actually went through a period of mourning, Billesberger said. “It was actually quite depressing in our house. They were just kind of on their beds, not doing anything.”

Her son has two dogs of his own. Before Bruno fell into the well, they would come over to visit him each day.

“Every morning, they’d come like clock work to our house. They’d scratch at the door, I’d open it and they’d dart in, go running all through the house looking for him.”

Even when he went missing, they still went through the same routine.

“But when he went missing, they came in, looked around for him, couldn’t find him and it was just another depressing moment,” Billesberger said. “So they are going to be so excited to see him.”

John Billisberger, Bruno’s other owner, was the one who found him in the well.

He said was out for a walk and thought he heard a noise so he called one of his other dogs over. He came over and just starred at the ground.

“So I went over there, through the tall grass, pulled the grass aside and then there, down about 10 feet was Bruno,” Billisberger said. “He couldn’t bark or anything so my son jumped down and there was nothing to him.”

From there, he was taken to an animal hospital in Estevan.

Cindy Billesberger said the outpouring of support has been incredible.

“People have been sending gifts, baby blankets and even money,” she said.

Doctors say Bruno still has a lot of weight to recover and his injuries are healing, but he’s heading in the right direction.