Dog News

Teenager Saves Overboard 10-Pound Dog

by Katherine

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Tukka
Tukka

Fifteen-year-old Charlie Connors saved Tuukka, a four-month-old, 10-pound shipoo, from drowning after the dog went overboard in Hingham Harbor, Mass.

Tuukka had gone boating with his owners, the Kirsch family, but unfortunately was not wearing a life vest at the time of the accident. The young dog had recently outgrown his vest, and when the boat hit a rough wave, he went flying out of the vessel.

Tukka and Charlie Connors
Tukka and Charlie Connors

The Kirsches frantically looked for their dog during two hours, but after not finding him they started to think they would never find Tuukka in the water. They feared the dog had drowned.

Just a mile away, Connors was boating with his father when he noticed there was something in the water.

“We just thought it was a bird at first and we thought it was injured because it was swimming weird and we went a little closer,” Connors told WHDH 7 News. “I was like dad, that’s a dog. So he reached over and scooped it out of the water.”

Thanks to Tuukka’s collar and ID tags, Connors’s dad contacted the Kirches and told them they had found their dog and he was alive. The dog was dropped off at the harbourmaster and later reunited with his owners.

Gillian Kirsch was glad her pet was rescued and promised to never again put the dog’s life at risk out on the sea. Tuukka will wear a life vest at all times while on the boat.