HILL SLIDE BURIES FAMILY DOGS TWO CANINE ASSISTANTS EMPLOYED TO SEEK LOST PET.

Byline: Phillip W. Browne Staff Writer

STUDIO CITY - A hillside collapsed Friday into the back yard of a Studio City home, filling the swimming pool, damaging a wall of the house and burying the family's two dogs, officials said.

Authorities were still assessing the damage caused by the 25-by-25-foot pile of mud that slid into the back yard of the home in 3500 block of Longridge Drive just before 10 a.m.

``There was some kind of failure on the hill,'' said Los Angeles Fire Battalion Chief Dan McCarty. ``The city geologist will determine the exact cause, but it looks like some source of moisture, possibly a broken sprinkler, saturated the soil.''

The distraught owners of the home in the Studio City neighborhood declined to comment. Neighbors said they had moved in about three months ago.

The Urban Search and Rescue team, including Bella the search dog and her grandson, Ranger, were called in to search for the family's two pet dogs, but were unable to find them.

``They are trained to find people, so this kind of search is different for them,'' said Bella's handler, Deresa Teller. ``She stuck her nose in the mud a few times but we didn't get any signs that the dogs were in there.''

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said mud exerts 2,700 pounds of pressure per cubic yard, making it unlikely the dogs would have survived.

``We're kind of hoping they might have become scared and run away, and are hiding,'' Humphrey said. ``We did a search of the neighborhood but they're nowhere to be found.''

Damage estimates were still being tallied late Friday. Homes in the area, at minimum, sell in the $500,000 range, but many are valued in the millions, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office.

Utilities were shut off to the single-family home, and the residents will have to live elsewhere until the building is declared safe, Humphrey said. No other properties appeared to be affected, Humphrey said.

Neighbor Yolanda Vogels, who lives across the street, said she would be checking her irrigation system.

``After this, I'm always going to check the sprinklers in the back,'' Vogels said. ``This is really sad, and I don't want to take that risk.''

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(1 -- 2) Firefighters wash mud from Bella, a search and rescue dog who was brought out to search for two small dogs who disappeared when a hillside slid down into a Studio City back yard. At left, an inspector looks at the damage from above.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer