Lifeguards rescue dog swept out to sea by rip current off San Diego coast

A pup that was swept out to sea by a rip current must be feeling doggone lucky after her unlikely rescue off the San Diego coast.

Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, stole away from the home where her owners were staying during a football game last month, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said in a social media post. While her owners tracked Sadie down the coast using an Airtag on her collar, surfers in Ocean Beach alerted lifeguards that a dog had been swept into the rip current near the jetty, officials said.

A U.S. Coast Guard boat and lifeguards searched the area after the dog disappeared into the channel, officials said. Lifeguards Garrett Smerdon and Jack Alldredge joined the search on personal watercraft and spent more than an hour looking. Then, they were told they’d only look for another 10 minutes.

“At that point, I kind of just said, ‘Please let us find this dog,’” Alldredge said.

Knowing that Labs are water dogs and fighters, there was a good chance Sadie was still alive, Smerdon said. They were called off, but while they were still far out, Alldredge thought he saw something.