Drone captures diver's ice-breaking attempt to rescue dog from melting floe

A pair of determined rescuers in Digby County, N.S., paddled and swam through a frigid lake Sunday tosave a stray dog stranded on the ice.

Nathaniel Dentin got a phone call about the pup's perilous predicament, so he and friend Mike Titus headed out in a canoe to help.

"The lake just opened up in the last three or four days, and we could paddle straight to where the dog was," Titus told CBC Nova Scotia News at 6.

Dentin, who was wearing a dry suit, got into the water and started swimming, breaking a path through the ice for about an hour.

"I commercially dove for 20 years, swimming up and down the Bay of Fundy, so the swim in the lake wasn't too bad," Dentin said. "We had a breakthrough to get to the dog and then bring the canoe in to pick it up."

The dog, however, wasn't too keen to be rescued at least not at first.

"As we kept working our way through to her, she could see she didn't really have too many other options than to come with us, I guess," Dentin said.

"Once we cleared the path so we could get close enough to her and she wouldn't go any further, I shoved Mike in the canoe up onto the ice and then he was able to get a hold of her."

The dog was shaking and scaredbut otherwise unharmed.

Determined rescuers save stray dog stranded on ice

4 years ago

Duration 4:15

Nathaniel Dentin and Mike Titus paddled and swam through a frigid lake on Sunday to save a stray dog stranded on a patch of ice. The pair spoke to CBC News at 6 host Amy Smith.

Healthy and 'a bit hungry'

Titus's wife, Carla Smith-Titus, said she sawthe dog in her yard last week, but was unable to catch it. Other neighbours had similar sightings, she said.

"It was actually a blessing in disguise that it was on the ice because it was the only way we could seem to isolate it," she said. "Other than that,she was a healthy dog.It appears someone has taken good care of her at some point. But she seems very young. She was a bit hungry, but not too bad."

Scott Comeau with Digby Municipal Dog Control said the pup, nicknamed the Lake Dog, is healthy and in good spirits, but no owner has come forward to claim her.

He said they've had several people interested in adopting her and he is asking anyone who recognizes her to reach out.

Meanwhile, she is enjoying walks, belly rubs and being on dry land.

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