Throwing caution to the wind, Cooper decided to go exploring within.

This curious dog named Cooper has explored just about every nook and cranny of the home he shares with his family in Colorado. But he recently discovered there are areas within the house that had actually not yet been charted.

And he ran into some trouble in the process.

Evidently, while perusing the house for things of interest, Cooper managed to lift off the floor grate of an HVAC vent. What he found beneath was what appeared to be a narrow yet tantalizingly mysterious passageway — leading to parts unknown.

Throwing caution to the wind, Cooper decided to go exploring within.

From there, Cooper soon learned that the “secret portal” wasn’t very hospitable. It was actually just a stretch of HVAC ductwork running beneath the house, not designed to hold weight.

Below, in the home’s crawlspace, Cooper was helplessly stuck — a look of deep regret washing over his face.

Getting Cooper out of that predicament wouldn’t be easy, so his family got help. They called the Grand Junction Fire Department, which dispatched a three-man crew to assist.

And sure enough:

“[Our] skilled firefighters acted quickly and safely, rescuing Cooper without a scratch,” the fire department wrote. “We’re happy to report that Cooper is back in his family’s arms, wagging his tail like nothing happened.”

With any luck, curious Cooper has learned his lesson — that some mysterious places are just not worth exploring.

“The responding crew had never encountered a situation quite like this before,” Captain Charlesworth of the fire department told The Dodo. “When they arrived and looked down the hole to find Cooper, it was a surprising and unexpected sight. While they had previously rescued ducklings from storm drains and puppies from crawl spaces, rescuing a dog from air ducting in a crawl space was a first. Despite the unusual and stressful situation, Cooper remained friendly and unharmed throughout.”