PERRY, Ga. — Some folks are hugging their pets a little tighter after two dogs drowned after a wreck at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry Thursday.
Hours before, those animals were dock-diving at the Peach Blossom Cluster Dog Show. When heavy rain started, a woman made a wrong turn while heading back to her RV. She ended up in the pond at the Georgia National Fairgrounds.
Mark Barker, a veterinarian from Oklahoma, says he was in his RV when someone came to him for help.
"We were primarily assisting or assessing the two that had been submerged in water. There were, my understanding, when the car entered the water, there was a dog in the backseat and two dogs crated in the backseat of the car,” Mark Barker said.
The unrestrained dog got out.
The other two died in their crates.
The police report says the woman couldn't see due to the lighting and heavy rain.
"It was a torrential downpour at the time, visibility was almost nothing, even standing just looking 20 feet away was hard to see what you were looking at," Jason Griner said.
The report says the woman believed she was driving toward a grass path -- instead, she drove into the pond.
"The car was in the water about little over halfway out from where we're standing now. It had gone in about right here and just kept going," Griner explained while showing the car's path.
Mary Ellen Mackey, the dog show's chairperson, says their community is saddened.
"Everybody has tears in their eyes this morning and we feel for the couple, and they'd come to do the dock-diving event, which is always a fun event, people love it, and unfortunately, this happened," Mackey said.
The police report says one dog did survive and both the driver and passenger were not harmed.
The Peach Blossom Cluster Dog Show continues through Sunday at the Georgia National Fairgrounds.