A Black Labrador‑mix puppy who got swept out to sea by a rip current is lucky to be alive after a dramatic rescue off the San Diego coast.
Sadie slipped away from her owners’ home while they were watching a football game last month, according to a post from the San Diego Fire‑Rescue Department. The owners used an “Airtag” attached to her collar to try to trace her, but local surfers spotted a dog being carried by the current near the Ocean Beach jetty and called for help.
Lifeguards Garrett Smerdon and Jack Alldredge, along with a U.S. Coast Guard boat, began searching for the missing pup once it vanished into the channel. They paddled in personal watercraft for more than an hour, but only had a short window to keep looking. “At that point, I just said, ‘Please let us find this dog,’” Alldredge recalled.
Knowing that Labs are strong swimmers and tenacious, Smerdon felt good odds that Sadie was still alive. When the search was about to be called off, Alldredge spotted something in the distance. “We got closer and closer, and then we realized it was her and we were pretty excited,” he said.
The rescuers hurried to Sadie’s side. “She was super happy to see us, for sure,” Smerdon said. “She was tired.” The puppy was roughly half a mile out when she was rescued, then a surfboat carried her back to shore where her owners were waiting.
In a video message, Sadie’s owners, Alexis Barcellos and Brandon Valdez, said they would be forever grateful. Barcellos remembered, “Just as the search was being called off, I heard a call on the radio that they had found the dog. And we kind of just held our breath, and they were like, and the dog is alive. And we kind of just started crying right away.”
Sadie’s paws and nails suffered severe damage from forcing herself onto the jetty, so her owners carried her around for about a week. The pup has bounced back; this week she went to the pet store for the first time since the rescue, chose a treat, and took a 1.5‑mile walk. “We are just beyond grateful she is home safe with us,” Barcellos said.
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