Lifeguards rescue missing dog found nearly 1 mile out to sea
A couple is "forever grateful" after a pair of San Diego lifeguards rescued their missing black Labrador mix from a dangerous rip current that had swept the pooch nearly a mile out to sea.
The couple was watching football in a house in San Diego on Nov. 23 when their dog, Sadie, snuck out the front door. Nearly two miles away, surfers alerted lifeguards at Ocean Beach that a dog had been caught in a rip current near the jetty, according to an Instagram post from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Dog Sadie rescued by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department
Lifeguards and a U.S. Coast Guard boat initially couldn't find Sadie. Just when they thought they might not locate her, lifeguards Garrett Smerdon and Jack Alldredge, who were aboard a Jet Ski, spotted the struggling dog offshore near South Mission Beach.
"We looked for an hour," Alldredge said. "(Smerdon) let me know, we're going to look for 10 more minutes. At that point, I kind of just said, 'Please let us find this dog.'"
Dog Sadie rescued by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department
"We kind of huddled up and said, 'There's a good chance that Sadie was still alive," Smerdon said. "Just a 5-year-old Lab. They're fighters."
Alldredge said after the 10 minutes had passed, they were still about three-quarters of a mile offshore when he spotted something.
"We got closer and closer, and we realized it was her, and we were pretty excited," he said.
"She was super happy to see us, for sure," Smerdon said. "She was tired."
The dog's owners, who were identified by their first names, Alexis and Brandon, expressed their gratitude in the video shared by the Fire-Rescue Department.
"She's the reason we're forever grateful to the lifeguards of the San Diego Fire and Rescue," Alexis said. "Right when they were going to call it off because it had been an hour, we literally were standing right there with the guy and he got a call on the walkie-talkie saying that they had found a dog, and we kind of just held our breath."
The couple recalled the moment they were informed that Sadie was still alive.
"We kind of just started crying right away," Alexis said.
The lifeguards were just as invested in that outcome.
"We just really wanted a happy ending," Smerdon said. "And we're glad that Sadie got to go back home and survive this pretty traumatic event."
