Coast Guard saved lucky dog from icy lake

Coast Guard crews rescued a dog from an icy Michigan lake on Tuesday morning after it fell through the ice. Luckily for the labrador, she took the plunge near a Coast Guard station. Members of the Coast Guard Station at Frankfort, Michigan, were having a meeting on Tuesday morning when one of them spotted the dog in the icy waters of Betsie Lake. "The dog went straight down and was in the water," Tim Putnam, a boatswain mate third class, said.



"We knew he wasn't getting out himself." The Coast Guard crew rushed to the lake, with Putnam swimming out about 200 feet into the channel that was covered in loose ice, he said. "I had to push a lot of the ice out of the way, it was pretty exhausting," he said. Putnam said he could see the dog was shivering, but the pooch attempted to swim towards him as he got closer. "I had to push a lot of the ice out of the way, it was pretty exhausting," he said.

Putnam said he could see the dog was shivering, but the pooch attempted to swim towards him as he got closer. "It was almost like he knew it was his last chance. Luckily we got him out in time, it didn't look like he had too much left in him." Putnam grabbed the dog and his crew helped pull them safely to shore. Once out of the water, Putnam and his crew took the lab to the Benzie County Animal Shelter in Beulah, Michigan.


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And despite the Coast Guard crew believing the dog to be male, animal control officers say the Labrador is in fact a female between three and five years old and with a clean bill of health. The shelter is currently looking for the dog's owner as she was found with no identification and did not have a microchip. Putnam said he hopes the owner comes forward, but if not he and his wife are considering adopting the animal he rescued. "Maybe it was just meant to be," he said. Edwin Carter, an animal control officer at the shelter, said if no owner comes forward Putnam has first dibs to adopting the dog.