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

SAN DIEGO (AP) — 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.

“We got closer and closer, and then we realized it was her and we were pretty excited,” he said.

They raced over to Sadie.

“She was super happy to see us, for sure,” Smerdon said. “She was tired.”

Sadie, who was about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) offshore near South Mission Beach when she was found, was transferred to a surf boat that brought her to shore, where she was reunited with her owners, officials said.

In a video message, Sadie’s owners, Alexis Barcellos and Brandon Valdez, said they would be forever grateful.

Barcellos recalled in the video that just as the search was being called off, she heard a call on the radio that they had found the dog.

“And we kind of just held our breath, and they were like, and the dog is alive,” she said. “And we kind of just started crying right away.”

Sadie’s paws and nails were badly damaged from trying to climb onto the jetty, so Barcellos and Valdez had to carry her around for about a week, Barcellos said Thursday. But she has been in great spirits and this week Sadie made her first trip to the pet store since the rescue to pick out a treat and took her first 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometers) walk.

“We are just beyond grateful she is home safe with us,” she said.