ORDEAL LEAVES PUP 'TIRED': WHEEL MUST BE CUT FROM DOG'S HEAD

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Crystal Reeves' 3-month-old German shepherd probably won't be chasing car tires soon.

When Reeves went out to see her dogs at 7 a.m. Monday, the five other German shepherds were fine. But 3-month-old Cheyenne had her head stuck in a wheel rim with a tire still on it.

"She was whining quite a bit," Reeves said.

With some help from her children, she took vegetable oil, then shortening and applied them to her puppy's head to make it slip out. It didn't budge.

"She was muddy and greasy, and I was muddy and greasy, and we weren't getting anywhere," she said.

Reeves packed the dog into the back seat with her children holding the wheel and tire, and set off to a nearby service station. But no one there had any better ideas, she said.

Finally, Reeves called the Cape Girardeau Fire Department on the suggestion of her husband, who works in Cape Girardeau.

Firefighters told her to drive the dog, tire and wheel to Cape Girardeau.

"I guess she couldn't find anyone locally to do it," Cape Girardeau fire Capt. Paul Breitenstein said.

The firefighters were confident they could handle the dog's dilemma. They have pulled dog's heads out of wheels two other times in recent years, said firefighter Stan Turner.

In both cases, firefighters lathered up the dogs' heads with soap and slowly worked them back out.

At one point on Monday, both of Cheyenne's ears were almost out, but firefighters were suddenly called away to respond to a vehicle accident.

"The dog's head was already swollen up from all that stress and pulling, so it wasn't going to come out easily," Turner said.

So firefighters brought out a battery-powered hacksaw.

Firefighters used the thin saw blade to start cutting at lug nut holes and down to near the dog's neck. Cheyenne was scared, Reeves said, but she didn't struggle.

"She was already so upset she had wore herself out," Breitenstein said.

The dog and her owner were quite happy to get the wheel off and drive home with the wheel in the car's trunk. Reeves said she probably will use what's left of the wheel for a planter.

Firefighters will handle other animal rescues as well, Breitenstein said, but don't call about cats up trees.

"With the dangers of high voltage lines and others considerations, we don't chase after cats up trees," he said. "Our policy is the cats will come down eventually."