Woman found in park OK -- dogs too

The woman found lying in Riverview Park Wednesday evening is home from the hospital and doing better, she said.

Connie Steele was walking three dogs when she passed out in the park.

"I've had this happen before," she said from home Thursday. "I can just go out like that."

She had been walking her dog and her friend Rose Spurlock's two dogs when she passed out.

"I fainted, and the next thing I remember is being in an ambulance for a short period of time," she said.

The dogs protected her while she was unconscious -- growling and barking at Carson City Sheriff's Deputies who approached her after a passer-by called 911.

"The puppy has gotten so protective of her," said Spurlock of Cleo, a 6-month-old Labrador/golden retriever mix. "The dogs just adore her. When she comes down the block, they go nuts because they know they're going to the river."

Deputy Bob Guimont yelled at the dogs to scatter them, and Steele was taken in an ambulance to Carson-Tahoe Hospital.

Carson City Animal Regulation Officer Dan Warne stayed in the park for hours until he rounded up the confused dogs.

"I was surprised that Dan was able to catch all of them," Spurlock said.

"They were spooked with all the people in the park," Warne said. "They just really got scared with all the sirens. I finally apprehended the last one at 8:30 p.m."

Jim Sherman, the first person to find Steele, walks his Doberman pinscher, Harley, in the park often. He said he was impressed by Warne's persistence in catching the dogs.

"A lot of people at the park today were talking about it," he said. (Animal control) really is a great outfit. I don't know if the people in this town realize all that animal control does for them."

Spurlock was able to reclaim two of her dogs directly from Warne Wednesday night.

"As soon as I got home, my husband told me she had been gone for four hours," she said. "So as I was walking down there to look for her, he was coming up the street with Heidi and Cleo."

The third dog, a shepherd named Sissy, was taken to the animal control building.

"I had to haul (Sissy) right away to the animal shelter for water," Warne said.

Spurlock said she and Steele usually walk the dogs together.

"We always take the dogs down to the river, and I'm always with her, but this time I wasn't with her, and she fainted."