Watch Dramatic Coast Guard Rescue of Dog from Icy Michigan Lake

Petty Officer 3rd Class Tim Putnam and crew members rescued a yellow lab from the icy waters of Betsie Lake Tuesday. (Photo via U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes Facebook page)

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After he saw a labrador retriever slip into the icy waters of Betsie Lake near the Frankfort Shipping Channel on Lake Michigan about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Tim Putnam knew there wasn’t a second to spare.

The Coast Guard meeting at the Frankfort station quickly adjourned. In an instant, Putnam had donned his ice rescue suit and plunged into the icy channel, The Grand Rapids Press/MLive reports.

The dog seemed determined to survive. Slowed by large ice chunks swirling in the waters and tugging at him like anchors, Putnam was equally determined. It took him 20 minutes to swim 200 feet and bring the pooch to safety. Putnam said he was able to crawl on top of the ice for part of the arduous swim, “but it wasn’t stable.”

“I had to push a lot of the ice out of the way, it was pretty exhausting,” Putnam told NBC News. The dog was exhausted, too, but attempted to swim toward him, “almost like (she) knew it was (her) last chance.”

As the shivering dog paddled, “it didn’t look like (she) had too much left in (her),” he said.

Against odds, he reached the dog in time,and pulled her to shore with the help of his crew. The dog was taken to the Benzie County Animal Shelter in Beulah, where she was given a clean bill of health.

Also on Patch:

• Purr-fect Ending for Flick, the Frozen Feline
• Arlington Firefighters Rescue Black Lab from Mystic River
• Dog Stuck in Snow-Covered Wall Rescued

The dog, estimated to be 3 to 5 years old, is most likely a stray. She’s been named Betsie, appropriately enough, and will be offered for adoption if no one steps forward to claim her. She didn’t have tags and hadn’t been microchipped.

Putnam has first dibs on adoption.

“Maybe it was just meant to be,” he said.

You can keep tabs on the dog on the Animal Rescue League of Benzie County’s Facebook page.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Tim Putnam warms up with Betsie, a dog he rescued from the icy waters of Betsie Lake tuesday. (Photo via U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes Facebook page)

Lab Named Lucy Takes Icy Swim

It’s been a bad – or lucky, depending on your perspective – week for dogs coping with winter.

Several states away in Massachusetts, another dog had an icy swim Tuesday. Firefighters in Arlington pulled Lucy, a black lab, from the frigid Mystic River after she broke free from a woman and her two daughters to chase swans swimming on the river.

The ice on the river broke, and Lucy was unable to free herself. Arlington firefighters Chris Gibbons and Joseph Andre donned what are colloquially known as “warm suits” and jumped in the frosty waters of the Mystic, returning the hapless pooch to dry land and warmth, unscathed.

Arlington, MA, rescue workers help warm Lucy after she was rescued from the Mystic River. (Photo via MSPnews.org)

Stone Cold Couple of Hours for Angus

A week earlier, a golden retriever named Angus had a chilly brush with death as fierce winter weather bore down on the Northeast and buried parts of the state in two feet of snow.

A veterinarian in Westford helped rescue the dog from a snow-covered stone wall. Angus had become stuck in the wall, and the local vet – Dr. Christian D’Orazio – sedated the dog so police and firefighters could carefully dismantle part of the wall and remove him safely.

Angus was stuck in the wall for about two hours before he was freed. Also unscathed, he has been reunited with his family.

Angus had a harrowing adventure after getting stuck in a snow-packed stone wall. (Photo via Boxborough, MA, police)

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(Patch editors Barry Thomson in Arlington, MA, and Jason Claffey in Westford, MA, contributed to this report.)