At 13 years old, Bruiser the dog knows what he likes — and more importantly, what he doesn’t.
Routine is everything to this big, stubborn sweetheart from upstate New York.
“Bruiser is stubborn and doesn’t like change,” his mom, Nicole Michell, told The Dodo.
But last week, that stubborn streak got him into quite the predicament.
Nicole and her boyfriend were out of town and asked a friend to stay at their house to keep Bruiser company. Normally, Bruiser goes out back to use the bathroom — but this time, the backyard was a construction zone, with deep holes dug for the posts of a new deck.
So, Nicole gave simple instructions: Take him out the front instead.
But Bruiser wasn’t having it.
“He wouldn’t go out the front door,” Nicole said. “So she hooked him up on a lead and brought him out back.”
The plan might’ve worked — except Bruiser, unhappy with the new arrangement, decided to pull in the opposite direction.
“Again, he’s very stubborn and weighs almost 100 pounds,” Nicole said. “He pulled away, his back foot slipped — and into the hole he went.”
Plop.
Just like that, Bruiser was stuck — wedged in the hole like a cork in a bottle. The poor pet sitter tried to free him, but he was completely jammed.
“Our friend called right away,” Nicole said. “We got people heading to the house to help, but he was really stuck.”
Soon, animal control officers and members of the Baldwin Volunteer Fire Company arrived at the scene.
The rescue wasn’t quick. They had to carefully widen the hole and figure out how to lift a 100-pound senior dog without hurting him.
“For Bruiser, this was definitely not part of his usual routine,” Nicole said with a laugh.
After about an hour and a half of teamwork, they finally managed to pull Bruiser free — safe and sound.
“He was 100% fine — just dirty,” Nicole said. “No limping, no soreness. When we got home two hours later, he acted like nothing even happened.”
The holes in the yard have since been safely covered, and Bruiser seems to have forgiven everyone for disrupting his bathroom routine.
Nicole, on the other hand, is just grateful for the kindness of the community that came together to help her stubborn old boy.
“We were so grateful for everyone who helped,” she said. “Some of the volunteer firefighters even called the next day just to check on him.”
After all that drama, Bruiser has officially earned his title as the most reluctantly rescued dog in town — and he’s sticking to his routine from now on.
