A heroic off-duty lifeguard has saved a family's precious pooch after the dog nearly drowned at Bethells Beach.
Senior lifeguard Zane Rademaker was involved in a pre-season training exercise when he noticed a large surging wave sweep up over three beachgoers who were crossing the estuary with three dogs.
"They were attempting to cross the river and there was already some quite large strong surf up and down the beach, and a lot of surges coming up and down," he says.
The strong swell was about to become very dangerous for the canines.
"I noticed this one particular surge, just did not look like it was slowing down. It just came up and just completely washed them out," he says.
"I was just winging it up the beach because I thought something might be wrong"
One dog, believed to be an American Pitbull, was unable to stay above the surge and was clearly in trouble.
Mr Rademaker ran over and checked the dog's vital signs. Unable to detect breathing or a pulse, he began to administer chest compressions.
"The dog was unresponsive, I couldn't feel a heartbeat and it wasn't breathing," he says.
"I started compressing the chest on the dog, and then instructed the owner to breathe into its nose."
The owner supplied rescue breaths and after approximately three cycles of compressions and rescue breathing "it started to wake up".
The dog's owner rushed off to see a vet before anyone from the Surf Life Saving Northern Region could get any contact details, however they are keen to find the owner to see if the dog is ok and maybe even reunite the dog with the lifeguard.
Mr Rademaker has some advice for dog owners at the beach.
"If you've got a dog, just be aware that a wave for you, up to your knee, might not appear very large," he says.
"But for a dog, that's generally taller than them so it can be quite strong and harder for them to maintain their grip on the ground."
Newshub.
