HOUSTON – A frightening drama Monday played out three stories up at a parking structure in the Texas Medical Center area.
From 10:30 a.m. until around 3:30 p.m., witnesses watched as a stranded and apparently trapped German shepherd mix paced back and forth, panting heavily, out on the ledge of a parking garage at the intersection of Montclair and Holcombe.
Jan Brown, who works next door, watched terrified that the dog was going to pass out from the heat, or simply fall to her death from the structure. She posted pictures of the dog on Facebook asking for help.
"Every time we looked out the window at this dog we had to quickly turn away because the poor thing looked like she was going to fall at any minute. She was panting like crazy and was distressed and helpless," Brown said.
She said she called the Houston Fire Department and the ASPCA for help, but no one responded.
Just before 3:30 p.m., a woman named Shanna Smith saw Brown's Facebook plea for help and went straight to the parking garage to rescue the pup.
"I just figured, I'm right here nearby, I have to do something quick to help this dog," Smith said.
Once on the third floor of the structure, Smith said she couldn't get out onto the ledge, so she just called for the dog to come to her and -- lo and behold, the dog did just that.
"I just called several times to her and she started coming closer to me and finally just climbed off the ledge and jumped from the top of a wall down to me and I had her," Smith said.
The next step, Smith said, is to find the dog's rightful owner.
She plans to take the pup to a veterinarian to scan the dog for an identification chip that will hopefully lead to finding the owner.