The RCMP staged an inventive rescue on Thursday—they used an old paddle boat and ice pick to save a six-month-old puppy from drowning.
The officers received a call about the pup—a Bernese mountain dog named Josie—saying that she had fallen through the ice on a frozen pond and had been struggling in the water for an hour.
Upon arriving at the scene, Sgt. Jason Slater and Const. Ray Dickenson realized they needed to act very quickly.
“I could hear the dog whining for help and knew we didn’t have much time to react,” Slater told the CBC.
Const. Dickenson devised an unusual plan. He suggested that he use an ice pick to pull an old paddle boat across the ice to where the pup had fallen in.
Donning a life jacket and secured to the land by a long rope—the officers didn’t know how deep the pond was—Dickenson began cautiously making his way toward the poor animal.
Luckily for Josie, Dickenson reached her just in time.
“As soon as Ray reached the dog, she didn’t have any more fight left in her,” said Sgt. Slater.
The pup was safely returned to her minders—her owners were out of town at the time of the incident.
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