Area resident Ben West was walking his pup in the park when he noticed another dog out on the ice of the frozen lake.

A moment later, the ice gave way and the dog fell in. It was unable to get itself up and out, and quite far from the shoreline. Other onlookers called and encouraged, trying to coax the dog out.

Then one woman decided to take matters into her own hands, heading out into the lake and breaking the ice as she went.

“People were kind-of cautioning her — ‘Don’t do it,’” West told the CBC. But all she said was, ‘It’s a dog, I have to.’”

She was waist-deep by the time she reached the dog, her winter garb doubtless heavy and waterlogged. Holding onto the animal, she trudged back out the way she’d gone in. By the time she reached the shore, paramedics, who had been called by those waiting, were ready with blankets.

West never got the woman’s name, but said she was calm throughout the ordeal.


The dog, post-toweling, was back to playing with the other dogs in the park, no worse for wear.

“I was just in shock—and really amazed at this woman’s heroic instinct to go do this thing,” added West. “It wasn’t even her dog.”
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