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As Scott Garrison tended bar Monday afternoon at Castaways, a restaurant near the frozen Kawkawlin River in Bangor Township, Mich., a co-worker spotted two dogs walking on the ice.
“All of a sudden, she said, ‘Oh my God, one fell in,’’’ Garrison told mlive.com.
“Basically, I just ran out the door and down to the bridge that goes over the river. By the time I was just getting to the other side of the river, both dogs were in the water. They were kind of bobbing up and down and struggling. … I knew they didn’t have much longer. I knew I had to do something, so I jumped in.”
Garrison was able to grab one of the dogs, a Pit Bull mix, but the other, a Malamute, was more elusive.
“The white one started to swim away from me, and I had to swim after him and grab him,” Garrison told mlive.com.
He was finally able to lift both dogs onto the ice. Someone from the bar brought a ladder. By scooting along it, Garrison carried each dog to the shore. Using his belt and one borrowed from a bystander as leashes, he walked the dogs into the bar.
Both dogs were wearing tags, but no one answered at the phone number, so Garrison called Bay County Animal Control.
While he waited with the dogs for animal control officers to arrive, Garrison told mlive.com he “rubbed and petted them, and made sure they were okay. They were okay, but they were definitely freaked out.”
Bay County Animal Control contacted the dogs’ unidentified owners, who picked them up on Tuesday.
Earlier that day, Garrison went to the shelter to check on the dogs. Based on the photo, the two were delighted to see their hero.
“We appreciate the fact the guy got them out of the river for their safety,” Mike Halstead, director of Animal Control, told mlive.com.
PHOTO: Facebook
