Young Sea Dog Swims 10 Miles After Going Overboard

Reuters Odd ^ | July 24, 2002 | Reuters

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

LONDON (Reuters) - A young black Labrador paddled for 10 miles dodging ferries, oil tankers and yachts to reach land after falling overboard from his master's boat off the southern English coast.

Two-year-old Todd's six-hour, 10-mile marathon surprised canine experts and delighted his owner, newspapers said on Wednesday.

"To swim that far is incredible, especially in the sea. I'm seriously impressed," Freda Scott-Park of the British Small Animal Vetinerary Association told The Times.

Owner Peter Loizou, who spent four hours searching for Todd after discovering his canine crewmember had jumped ship in the Solent, said it was a miracle he had survived.

"He swam across the waves, across the currents to get home," he said. "I am so pleased to see him, he is like a child to me."

Pet and master were finally reunited after Todd clambered ashore after swimming up the River Beaulieu in Hampshire and police scanned a microchip in the dog's ear.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Now that's a water dog!

[HairOfTheDog]

Ping for the water dog!

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

LOL!

I thought you'd gone to bed!

[HairOfTheDog]

Eh - I came back after feeding ponies and saw your thread... pinged my triever lovin' buddies. Now I am goin' to bed :~D

[2Trievers]

What a wonderful story! It's hard to believe he swam that long. Maybe he has "nine lives"! &;-)

[Inge_CAV]

What a dog! ;~)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Take a look at this!

[Sam Cree]

You wonder if the dog was heading for England knowingly, and what means it used to keep a steady course, since its rumline extended over the horizon and he had no compass, sextant or GPS:-D Did he orient himself to the direction of the seas, check the sun's position, or merely rely on his sense of smell?

I'm e-mailing this article to my sister in law who loves dogs and has eight, two of which are labs.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

This story reminds me of stories of pets who get lost or left behind when an owner moves, and then trek hundreds of miles to turn up months later on the owner's new doorstep. Almost enough to make one believe in animal ESP!

[homeschool mama]

What a wonderful story. :o) We love labs.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Labs generally are sweet dogs, especially Black Labs! :)

[homeschool mama]

**Labs generally are sweet dogs, especially Black Labs! :) **

Oh no, Bear...YELLOW labs are the sweetest! LOL

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

YELLOW labs are the sweetest

hehehe, just commenting on what I know. My grandparents had a Black Lab when I was little, spent many a summer Sunday afternoon playing with that dog. But, I haven't had a lot of experience with Yellow Labs... the only one I've known belonged to a customer on my paper delivery route (back when I was a teen). She was a very nice dog though, rarely barked or raised a fuss like most of the dogs on my route did!

[Corin Stormhands]

pinged my triever lovin' buddies.

Hey, I gots one too ya know...

[Sam Cree]

What's amazing to me is that if Todd was swimming at two miles an hour, which in my view is a stretch, the swim would have taken five hours. I'm sort of wondering how he could swim 5 + hours (more likely seven or eight) and continue to maintain course. You have to imagine that he meandered some, yet he still made it from an offshore island into the mainland and up a river.

[homeschool mama]

Our Katie-girl passed on to puppy heaven 4 years ago after 13 years of love. Still miss her greatly...have a very soft spot in my heart for Yellow Labs. :o)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

The article indicates it took him 6 hours. I wonder if the tide was helping him at all, perhaps pushing him in?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

My own favorite dogs are Boston terriers... because of the two I had while growing up. :)

[Sam Cree]

I'm not familiar with the currents between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, but normally they run parallel to coastlines, though once you get near the beach the rise and fall can deliver or remove objects. Todd swam into a river, and tide definitely flows into and out of rivers. The tide as it goes upstream is called a tidal bore. But I doubt that the bore would reach to the island near where he fell overboard.