Lost Dog Found Safe In Old, Empty Well In Eastport Monday Night

When David Rose got back to his Eastport home late Monday night, he was tired and laden with bags to bring inside.As he used a toe to open the door and squeeze inside, the 1½-year-old yellow Labrador puppy tore outside, intoxicated by a stray scent and determined to hunt it down.

Bags tumbling out of his arms, Mr. Rose sprinted after the usually obedient dog, which belongs to his girlfriend, Bryanna Stone, screaming the puppy’s name: “Baylyn!”

Gone.

A few frantic phone calls later, Mr. Rose, 27, the owner of Rose Marine Services in East Moriches and Swell Yogurt Cafe in Manorville, had assembled a search party that included Ms. Stone, Mr. Rose’s father, Roger, from down the road, and about eight friends. Together, the group fanned out and, equipped with flashlights, searched high and low, down streets and through the woods in the neighborhood.

Mr. Rose brought his other dog, a 3½-year-old chocolate Lab named Skip, to sniff out his canine friend.

“I was afraid that Baylyn had hurt herself and was stranded somewhere,” Mr. Rose said on Tuesday. “We were all sprinting down each side street.”

Finally, at about 3 a.m., the group was alerted to Baylyn’s presence when Skip started sniffing and barking near an uninhabited house at 7 North Bay Avenue. They finally found the dog—lying at the bottom of an empty old well.

Mr. Rose called the Southampton Town Police, who soon arrived with a ladder. Mr. Rose’s father climbed down into the hole and heaved Baylyn back up to the surface, and safety.

Mr. Rose said that the house had been uninhabited for at least the last decade. “Those old wells need to be filled in,” he said. “Imagine if people are just walking around, or a Realtor is trying to show the house.”

Though Baylyn was limping slightly, Mr. Rose said that she seemed mostly unharmed and that he was taking her to a veterinarian just to be sure.

“I’m just so glad we found her,” he added.