ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604080055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: MARY REID BARROW LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
ELLIE'S LOUD, she's proud ... and she ``will never get off the leash again!''
Ellie may be nothing but a hound dog, but her barking all the time sure got the attention of Ocean Park residents last week. It also saved her life.
Ellie's baying and howling could be heard all along the beach Wednesday as she swam, disoriented, in the Chesapeake Bay after failing to capture a duck.
``It was the most mournful sound I've ever heard,'' said Faye Smithwick, who lives on the bay.
Scott Woodruff, a senior at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and his girlfriend, Susan White, who live nearby, estimated the hound was a half-mile offshore.
``You could hear her, but you couldn't see her without binoculars,'' Woodruff said.
Woodruff and an unidentified construction worker grabbed two ocean kayaks off a neighbor's porch and paddled out to the confused dog. On the way out, Ellie stopped baying.
``I thought she had died,'' Woodruff said.
When they got within 100 yards of the dog, she started swimming away from the two men.
``Finally, she heard a voice calling,'' Woodruff said, ``and she let us get on either side of her, and we herded her in.''
The rescuers got scant thanks. A big spray of water as she shook herself dry was Ellie's first response.
Ellie's adventure started as an innocent walk on the beach with another hound dog, named Clarence, and their pal, Kay Barbini. Ellie's supposed to be a coon hound.
``But she's wild about ducks,'' Barbini said.
When Ellie saw the duck, she went after it with the same single-minded pursuit of a hound after a coon, baying all the while.
``The duck swam off,'' Barbini said. ``And then the duck flew, but Ellie kept swimming.''
Barbini shed her shoes and sweat shirt and jumped into the water. She realized that Ellie was pulling a repeat of a trick she had played once before while chasing a duck. Ellie had to be rescued then, too.
Barbini was no match for Ellie, a strong swimmer.
The dog was swimming out as the current carried her east toward the Lesner Bridge. Barbini came ashore, cold and worried.
By that time, neighbors farther down the beach had realized what was happening.
While Woodruff and friend were going after Ellie, Susan White took blankets and clothes to Barbini.
Barbini estimated that she had been in the water about 25 minutes and that Ellie had been in the water about 90.
But the next day, both were no worse for their long swims.
``That rascal is fine,'' Barbini said. ``But she will never get off the leash again!''
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB