Mee Duke, a four-year-old Golden Retriever who enjoys being outside with his family. Duke really enjoys hiking, but on a recent excursion in Vancouver’s North Shore Mountains, the 100-pound dog became stranded on a treacherous trail and required assistance from a few compassionate rescuers to escape danger.

The 100-pound dog cut his paws when the trail he and his mom were hiking turned into sharp rocks. Duke’s mom tried to carry him to safety herself, but the terrain beneath her feet was still too rough to walk on and the narrow trail had a steep drop-off. So she called North Shore Rescue for help.

Within minutes, air operations coordinator Tim Blown and the rest of his team responded to the scene via helicopter.

“We were able to land not that far away, exit the helicopter and hike down to the location,” Blown said.

Although the North Shore Rescue team is used to saving humans on the mountain range, they’ve rescued a few dogs in the past, so they knew just what to do.

“We put him in a rescue harness and then one of our members hiked the dog back to the helicopter,” Blown said.

Duke was over 100-pounds and in pain from his paw injuries, but he stayed calm during the entire rescue. In fact, he was pleased to be picked up by his rescuers.

“You would think that [when] picking up a big dog and carrying them, they might get upset,” Blown said. “But when we got him into the helicopter and put him down there, he looked pretty happy.”

The chopper was subsequently removed from the precarious top by the North Shore Rescue crew, who also transported Duke and his humans back to the ground without incident.

After landing, Duke was immediately taken to a nearby animal hospital where he received urgent attention for his paws.

Thanks to North Shore Rescue’s quick response, Duke is on the mend. According to the vet, his paws should be fully healed in just a few weeks, which means he’ll be able to explore dog-safe trails with his parents again soon.