Clive Hook, general superintendent with the Corporation of Hamilton, yesterday pulled a stray dog from a drain pipe along the canal -- probably saving its life.

"High tide and the dog likely would have been a goner. He was stuck and if he had moved any further up the pipe I couldn't have reached him,'' Mr. Hook said.

Mr. Hook's co-worker Clive Taylor spotted the dog's tail sticking out of a drain pipe and Mr. Hook subsequently jumped into the canal, tied a rope to the dog's tail and yanked him out.

The dog, a cross-breed with black and white spots and estimated to weigh about 70 pounds, was "very very happy'' when I got him out, Mr. Hook said.

"If nobody claims him. I'll take him. He has a beautiful temperament,'' Mr.

Hook said.

The Hook household is already home to four cats and a dog.

"I'm an animal lover. I'd hate for him to be destroyed.'' The dog, believed to be about eight years old, entered the pipe thinking it a way out after it was unable to climb over the canal wall, Mr. Hook said.

After it's rescue, the dog was taken to the Corporation's yard nearby on Dundonald Street for a bath.

Hannover Veterinary Hospital vet Jan Cieters checked the dog and gave it a clean bill of health.

It was then taken to Government's dog kennel in Somerset, dog warden Leonard (Shinah) Simons said.

RESCUED -- Clive Hook proudly shows off the dog he saved yesterday.