Three Dogs Were Stuck in a Canyon. Rescuers Lured Them to Safety with the Help of Hot Dogs.

When California’s Santa Clarita Valley Search and Rescue Team (SCVSAR) heads into the wilderness, they typically pack climbing ropes, carabiners, and trauma kits. But during a rescue operation in late January, they had to request specialized equipment they hadn’t initially brought with them: a pack of hot dogs.

That’s because the rescue team was saving three actual dogs from a remote gully near Texas Canyon, a popular climbing area located just north of town. The dogs, who lived together on a nearby farm, had been missing since the previous day. The incident occurred on January 25, and was first reported by The Signal.

Spoiler alert: The SAR team saved all three dogs.

In a now-viral Instagram video, SCVSAR described the heartwarming rescue. While scouting locations for a training exercise, two rescuers heard a dog barking. They wondered whether the canines were alerting them to an injured person, so they set out to locate the animals.

After a steep hike up into the rugged, narrow terrain, the two rescuers, Tony Buttitta and Michael Kaericher, found the barking dog. Oddly enough, the canine didn’t appear to be in trouble.

“He kept running down the mountain and then back up, like he wanted our team members to follow him,” wrote SCVSAR on social media.

When rescue team members followed the frantic pup into a remote canyon, Buttitta and Kaericher found two more dogs who they said looked very tired and scared. The duo called in for specialty rescue gear—in this case, a packet of hot dogs—to coax the three dogs out of the canyon.

“There was a standoff for about 20 minutes with our two team members in a precarious position without proper climbing gear and three dogs growling and barking at them 15 feet away,” SCVSAR wrote on Instagram. Eventually, the dogs warmed up to the responders. One dog, a pit bull, seemed extremely happy to see them.

“The pit bull slowly came down the hill and put his head on one of the rescuer’s legs and just closed his eyes,” SCVSAR said on Instagram. “He was relieved to have been found!”

The pit bull had a tag with the name Oden and an owner’s phone number. When they called, the rescuers learned that all three dogs lived on a farm six miles away. The owners were thrilled to hear the dogs were safe, but getting the trio out of the steep canyon remained a challenge. The two smaller dogs were fit and ready to scramble out, but Oden was having trouble, and his friends wouldn’t leave his side

“Oden did not want to move,” SCVSAR reported on Instagram. “He was big, tired, and scared. Our team members did an outstanding job reassuring Oden that it was OK to come down the mountain.”

Oden and his furry friends clearly had a traumatic ordeal, but their stomachs came out ahead.

“We sent the whole pack of hot dogs home with them,” Buttitta told The Signal.

As a nonprofit organization, SCVSAR hopes the viral attention will inspire viewers to donate to purchase more dog rescue harnesses, like those used to help rescue Oden