Pool man gives CPR to nearly drowned prairie dog

PHOENIX, AZ (KTRK) -- A pool man in Phoenix carried out a tiny rescue operation after he spotted a small prairie dog floating in a pool.

Rich Gruber thought it hadn't been there very long, so he pulled it out. He put it on a PVC pipe and started squeezing its sides to try to get it to cough up the water it had swallowed and it worked.

"He looked like he needed help, and I figured he hadn't been in there for very long," he said. "I figured I could try to pull him out and try to see if I could bring him back to life because there was still a chance he hadn't been in there for maybe a minute."

Gruber says he stayed with the prairie dog for about an hour before it ran off into the desert.