ohmidog!

A pleasant outing with her dogs turned into a nightmare for a Washington woman when both of her dogs jumped into a concrete-sided canal and were swept up in its current.

Noya Deats regularly walked her dogs, Fawn and Nia,  along the Roza Canal, which is marked with signs warning people not to enter it, due to its sometimes swift current and steep and slippery sides.

Last Wednesday, the dogs decided to jump in, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic – only to find they couldn’t get out.

As the dogs were being swept downstream, Deats ran alongside, trying to keep up with them while calling her husband, Matt.

Matt arrived after she had run — and the dogs had drifted — about two miles. He found a ladder leading into the canal, climbed down it and attempted to grab one of the dogs, but missed her as she floated by.

A Yakima County Sheriff’s deputy arrived and attempted to lasso the dogs with a rope, but without success. As the dogs were swept along the canal, Fawn, a Labrador mix, seemed able to keep her head above water, but Nia, an Australian shepherd mix, was struggling, Matt said.

Things were looking hopeless when, about three miles from where the dog entered the canal, a 54-year-old farmworker, hearing the commotion, approached, watched the deputy struggle to rope the dogs, then asked for the lasso.

Jesus Villanueva, who speaks only Spanish, roped one dog on his first try and pulled it to safety; on the second try, he snagged the other.

“I was amazed,” Noya Deats said. “He just kind of came out of nowhere. It was amazing how fast he lassoed them.”

Villanueva said he learned to lasso at a cattle ranch in Jalisco, Mexico, but it had been 30 years since he had roped anything.

Photo: Noya and Matt Deats hold onto their dogs, Fawn, right, and Nia as Jesus Villanueva, right, looks on. By Andy Sawyer / Associated Press