Boating family spots dog swimming in the water and saves his life

Sometimes life puts you in just the right place at just the right time. That was the case for one family, who spotted a dog swimming for her life and raced to get her to safety.

The Wilcox family, from Grand Haven, Michigan, was out on a 12 hour boating trip on Lake Michigan. But about four hours offshore, they picked up an unexpected passenger.

“I see this red animal in the lake and I started screaming, ‘Dog in the water!’” Jeannie Wilcox recalled to WOOD.

The family rushed to get the poor dog on board their boat, Off the Hook. “We brought her up on our swim platform really easily,” Jeannie said. “We dried her off. She was obviously scared and cold.”

Facebook/Jeannie Schrage Wilcox
Facebook/Jeannie Schrage Wilcox

Once the dog was safe and ashore, the Wilcoxes looked for her owners. Luckily, the dog was microchipped, so it wasn’t long before she was home.

“Owners are located and we should be hearing from them soon,” Jeannie wrote in a Facebook update. “They are on a sailboat. Thank goodness for microchipping!”

She joked her dog was now a “water dog rescue.” While everything worked out in the end, it’s easy to think about what could’ve happened to this dog, alone and deep into the water, if the family hadn’t found him.

“I just hope that if this was my dog, somebody would do the same for me. I would just be very grateful, happy because I know how rough Lake Michigan can be,” Jeannie told WOOD.

Facebook/Jeannie Schrage Wilcox

Thank goodness this dog is safe… and dry! Thank you to this family for saving the day and getting this dog home to shore.

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