Nov. 25, 1995: Belleville dog gets head stuck in railing

This Throwback Thursday is painful, because it undoes years of defending the noble Labrador retriever from certain individuals who like to refer to them as “goofball Labs.”

Alas, we found Winston in the archive.

On Nov. 25, 1995, News-Democrat Chief Photographer Bill DeMestri went out on a Belleville Fire Department rescue call. Winston, a 1-year-old Lab, had gotten his head stuck in a stair railing.

Owner Pat Erwin speculated that Winston was chasing a squirrel or another dog when he went head-first through the stair railing and got his head stuck.

Two Belleville firefighters came to his rescue. They cut a bar from the rail and Winston was again free.

Erwin moved from the area a few years back. We couldn’t reach her for comment about whether the rest of Winston’s life was as eventful.

Want to see more photos, that day’s newspaper or past episodes of Throwback Thursday? Visit us online at BND.com.

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Nov. 25, 1995: Belleville dog gets head stuck in railing."