I listened to this guy's interview on CBC's As It Happens 6 years ago. The story has stayed with me all these years. And a few times a year I retell it to someone. Goldens and Labs are the best!
Lassie Swim Home!
Labrador Falls Overboard, Dog-Paddles 10 Miles to Shore
LONDON (UK) — If you happened to have seen a dark, panting snout looming out of the Solent waterway, traveling at speeds of up to 2 mi/hr between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland on Wednesday, calm down. It was not the Loch Ness Dog.
But you might be even more shocked to learn that it was a 2-year-old Labrador Retriever named "Todd" who had fallen off a yacht and managed to make his way to shore.
Is that the theme from "Jaws" I hear?
"Todd" the Black Lab swam for
six hours and 10 miles across the Solent, a busy shipping-lane south of Beaulieu, UK, where the exhausted pooch hauled himself up onto dry land, just eight miles from his home in Winsor.
(Photo: BBC News)
Peter Loizou, 35, had noticed his dog missing from the deck as the boat passed about a mile off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Frantic, the man searched the windswept waters for four hours but to no avail.
"I contacted the harbour master who searched but I then thought, realistically he has drowned," Mr. Loizou told reporters.
"I turned back devastated, thinking I never want to go on the boat again."
A Brilliant Navigator
Meanwhile, Todd's adventure was just beginning. Contrary to what you might expect, the determined pooch did not swim the one-mile distance to the Isle of Wight. Instead, he took the longer route across the Solent, through the busy shipping lanes and against heavy offshore winds pushing him in the opposite direction.
Then, about five miles later, he altered course and took a detour up the River Beaulieu. (Map: BBC News)
At last, six hours and ten miles after his journey began, Todd hauled himself onto dry land, practically at his own doorstep. The brilliant Labrador had swum a direct course for his home in Winsor and had covered more than half the distance when he was picked up by a 16-year-old boy and taken to police.
A microchip in Todd's ear filled in the rest of the details. Once the authorities had scanned it, it was just a matter of time before the Lab was reunited with Mr. Loizou, who was beside himself with amazement.
"He swam across the waves, across the currents to get home," said the man.
"I am so pleased to see him, he is like a child to me."
"That was fun, Pete.
Can we do it again?"
(Photo: Southampton Daily Echo)
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http://dogsinthenews.com/issues/0207/articles/020724a.htm