Dog News

14-Year-Old Lab Rescued After Nine-Mile Swim

by Amy Drew

Life With Dogs is reader-supported. We may earn a small commission through products purchased using links on this page.

Fergie is not the sort of dog one leaves behind, apparently.

Like most Labrador retrievers, she loves to swim. Usually, though, she does so in the company of family. But the other day, when her people left home for a few hours, her separation anxiety got the best of her.

Fergie managed to get out of the house and went looking for them. And in the process, she swam from the south Florida town of Coral Gables all the way out to Miami’s Biscayne Bay, where Miami Fire Rescue began receiving 911 calls about a dog in the water.

“The two people who were attempting to rescue the dog started waving for assistance,” Lt. Ignatius Carroll of Miami Fire Rescue told NBC Miami. “Obviously, trying to get out there to the dog, they were also tired and had to be picked up and taken back to shore.”

Fergie, happy to see the rescue boat, was easily pulled aboard and taken to shore and reunited with her family. Tired after her marathon swim, she was otherwise no worse for wear.