A dog’s heroic actions to save her friend came to light after a family reviewed their surveillance cameras around their home’s swimming pool.
Surveillance video from a home in Boksburg, South Africa captured the moment a rescued Staffordshire Terrier saved her Pomeranian pal from drowning in a swimming pool. Chucky, who is 13-years-old, was walking around the pool when she accidentally slipped in right by the pool’s stairs.
Byron Thanarayen/YouTube
Byron Thanarayen and his wife Melissa were away from home at the time of the incident, but when they returned home they noticed Chucky had a wet head but a dry body. Byron told TimesLife that they began to investigate.
“We tried to look for clues as to where he could have wet his head. We thought maybe he dipped his head in the water, but there was no mess in the house to support this suggestion,” he said.
When they watched the security footage their hearts dropped.
They could see that Chucky panicked after he fell in the water and didn’t go back towards the stairs. Instead, the small dog struggles to get out of the water and keep his head above water. Jessie comes to the pool and noticed her frantic friend. She appears to know Chucky is in trouble and follows the small dog as he paddles around the pool’s edge desperately trying to get out. Note: the video below is surveillance footage and the zoom-ins and close-ups were edited in after the incident.
After 34 minutes, Jessie was finally able to grab hold of Chucky and pull him out of the water using her teeth! The two walk off to the backyard and both are no doubt relieved the ordeal is over.
“It was heart-wrenching to watch,” Byron said of the surveillance video. “We still struggle to watch that video today, just thinking of what could have happened if Jessie was not there,” he said. “Our dogs know how to swim but they always swim with us and not when we are not with them. They also know where the pool steps are.”
Byron Thanarayen/YouTube
Byron said they are presently installing a pool cover.
The couple are so relieved and grateful for Jessie’s quick-thinking and very happy that they adopted the Staffie from the SPCA in Boksburg four years ago. They can’t understand why they are Jessie’s third owners, given how wonderful a dog she is. Byron mentioned that they were told the previous adopters had returned Jessie because they said she didn’t get along with other dogs. But Jessie’s rescue of Chucky certainly disproves that!
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