Dog doing well after being rescued from Orange County pond

Kevin Rogers called 911 after noticing the dog, named Petey, had fallen in the water near Mebane. Rogers tried to free Petey by firing shots into the pond to break up the ice, but that didn't work.

Deputies say Petey managed to find himself struggling to keep his head above water about 30-40 feet from the shore.

"I was peaking out the window, I was like 'OK, his head's still up' and I was like 'please Lord, please Lord, please Lord'," Roger's wife, Olivia Rogers said.

Arriving officials boarded a boat and ventured onto the pond, breaking a path in the ice to get to the dog.

"We weren't really sure what to expect when we got out there and found that poor dog just out there suffering in the middle of the pond," said Deputy Ryan Jones with the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "It was really, really upsetting to everyone there."

Joseph Schwartz with Orange County Animal Services said when rescue crews reached the dog, he "pretty much jumped into our hands." Petey was pulled into the boat and brought back to dry land where emergency crews dried him off and warmed him up with lots of blankets.

"I was telling my son, when they showed up, those are heroes and they're doing the right thing," Olivia Rogers said of Petey's rescuers.

It's unknown exactly how long Petey was in the water, but the pond is 40 to 50 feet deep and places and rescuers admitted they worried they might be on a failed mission. It took an hour to get Petey out of the water.

"We all know animals are not human, but we sometimes treat them like that in our daily lives and people think of those dogs and cats just like they're family members, like sons and daughters, so it was serious to them," said Jones.

First responders said they never thought twice about risking their lives for Petey.