Most dogs tend to be fairly good swimmers, but they don’t always exercise the best judgement.
Lucky for a silver Labrador known as Nellie, Adam Parker was there to save her when she swam too far from a Halifax beach.
Bev Sweetnam, a woman who witnessed the incident, told CBC News that Nellie became disoriented after swimming out from Black Rock Beach in Point Pleasant Park, which is located in the city’s south end.
According to reports, the dog swam into the Halifax Harbour before turning into the Northwest Arm. It couldn’t seem to find it’s way back, even as people on shore tried to call out for it to come back and alert nearby boaters to help.
Nellie swam in circles for an hour before Parker showed up, and it’s a good thing he did.
“He just said, ‘I’m going out for the dog’ and he took his shirt off and stuff out of his pockets,” Sweetnam said.
Parker jumped into the ocean and swam into the middle of the Northwest Arm, corralling the dog and directing it back to shore before it became too tired to swim.
“It was amazing,” said Sweetnam, who managed to capture a photo of the rescuer alongside Nellie and her grateful owner.
If Parker hadn’t come along, who knows what would have happened to the dog. No matter how good of a swimmer she is, an hour is an awful long time to be doing the doggy paddle.
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