“He couldn’t get out because the sea wall was so high and the tide was so low,” Officer Sara Gianino told The Dodo. “And it didn’t seem like he could swim for much longer.”
The officers quickly looked for a spot along the perimeter of the canal to stand on, but they couldn’t find anything stable enough to support them. They chose the only viable option, as they ran out of time.
“It was determined that a broken dock would allow her the best chance to get the pup out of the water,” LHPPD wrote on Facebook.
They navigated down the dock to make a quick decision.
“We just took off our gear and we jumped in to save him,” Gianino said.
Gianino was the first to jump in and tried to get the dog to her partner on a dock. While she was doing this, an uninformed family sailed by their boat. Charles King, one of the family members, saw the unfolding situation and ran to help.
King and Gianino grabbed Sarge, and they swam together to the dock. The 80-pound pup was lifted out of the water by King and Gianino, while Steinkamp, who was on the dock with broken bones, reached out to him.
Luckily, Steinkamp was able to grab Sarge’s collar and pull him up to her. Sarge’s tail started wagging as soon as his paws touched the dock, thrilled to finally be safe. Sarge was welcomed by Steinkamp, who gave him a few gentle pats on the shoulder to let him know everything was okay.
“He was so happy to be out,” Gianino said. “He was super cheerful.”
Sarge was promptly reunited with his mom, Alex Griffin, and his “girlfriend,” Jenny.
The adventurous-loving puppy is now safe at home. He can play with his toys again and takes a nap with his family. And his humans are keeping an extra-close eye on him from now on to make sure he doesn’t get into hot water again.
