Dog Rescued in Lake Michigan
A family from West Michigan had the surprise of their life when they saw a dog swimming in the middle of Lake Michigan. The Wilcox family was on a boating trip from Grand Haven to Frankfort when they spotted the pup in the water. What happened next resulted in a dog rescued and reunited with her family. (1)
On Friday, August 7, 2020, the Wilcoxes were eight hours into their 12-hour boat trip. Jeannie Wilcox was the first to notice the dog. (1)
“I see this red animal in the lake and I started screaming, ‘Dog in the water!’” Wilcox said as she told Wood TV about the rescue. (1)
The dog was treading water about four miles out from shore, all alone. The Wilcoxes took action to reach the pup and get her on board. (1)
“We brought her up on our swim platform really easily. We dried her off. She was obviously scared and cold,” she said. (1)
Jeannie estimates that the dog could have been treading water for more than an hour. After the rescue, the Wilcoxes traveled four hours to Belmont to a vet to get the dog scanned for a microchip. (1)
Family Reunited with Lost Pup
Jeannie posted photos of the rescued dog on Facebook and wrote, “Look what we just caught in the middle of Lake Michigan 6 miles North of Big Points Sable and 4 miles offshore. We have contacted her vet in Belmont but we don’t have a name for the dog. We think she came off of a boat that stayed in Manistee last night if anybody has information. We’re headed to Frankfort and will take care of her until we find her owners.” (2)
The Wilcoxes were able to locate the dog’s family after scanning her microchip. They learned that the dog had fallen off her family’s sailboat and that they had been searching for her frantically. The Wilcox family met up with the family and returned the dog to them. (1)
Jeannie posted about the reunion on Facebook. “Happy Happy reunion! All dogs welcome on Off The Hook…aka water dog rescue,” she wrote, referring to her family’s boat. (2)
Judgment on Social Media
Jeannie had originally posted a video of the dog’s reunion with her family. But she replaced it with a photo after some people commented that one of the dog’s owners didn’t seem excited enough to see her. (2)
One person wrote, “They didn’t seem that excited?” Another commented, “Bizarre reaction to a miracle dog rescue. Hope that pup is ok.” Someone even suggested that the family may have been trying to “dump” the dog because she looked older. (2)
After replacing the reunion video with a photo, Jeannie shut down the judgy commenters and cleared up the confusion. “I’d like to thank everyone for their concern about this sweet pup. There is a lot of judging going on based on my reunion video,” she wrote. “I apologize if the video was not more dramatic in a happy sense that brings us tears of joy. Please let me reassure everyone that this was a complete accident and that the dog in no way was being abused, mistreated, or neglected.” (2)
Be Kind Online
She continued, “The dog and owner were very happy to see each other. The dog’s body language was happy and content and the owners were VERY grateful to have her back. Please know they were frantically looking for her and calling the Coast Guard. I’m sure they felt bad this happened and it is not my intention to make them feel worse. I am VERY happy for them and to be the ones to deliver their fur baby back.” Jeannie reminded everyone, “This has been very overwhelming, so please be kind.” (2)
All in all, it’s a happy ending to a situation that could have been much worse if the Wilcoxes hadn’t found the dog. “I just hope that if this was my dog, somebody would do the same for me. I would just be very grateful, happy because I know how rough Lake Michigan can be,” Jeannie told Wood TV. (1)
