Instead, emergency responders in Virginia assumed the role of the famous rescue breed – pulling the plucky pooch out of an icy lake.
Milo’s family had been tobogganing down a hill toward Woodglen Lake in Fairfax Station on Friday evening when the dog walked out onto the lake about 30 feet from shore and fell in.
The family quickly called 911 and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department responded in the 21-degree weather with a wind chill of 8 degrees.
“Our crew donned ice-rescue suits, slid out to where the dog was and pulled him out,” Chuck Ryan, deputy chief of the department’s special-operations unit, told The Post.
“(Milo) assisted the rescuers once he had some leverage and they got him out and put warm blankets on him in less than 10 minutes,” he said. “He was very wet, very cold, but responsive. Otherwise, he was happy-go-lucky.”
Ryan applauded the family for calling 911 and not trying to rescue their 130-pound dog by themselves near the hole.
“That usually doesn’t end well,” he noted.
Five-year-old Milo – whose breed is famous for saving avalanche victims in the Swiss Alps – was sent back home with its owners in about 30 minutes.
“It’s a bit ironic. These dogs are usually the rescuers — usually in the mountains — but this guy got in a bit of trouble on some thin ice,” Ryan said, chuckling.
(New York Post - Jan 23, 2016)
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