Hugh Pinneo had just gotten home from high school and was dozing on the couch when his mother’s screams jolted him awake.
“I think there’s a dog drowning in the pond!” she shouted.
Pinneo, 18, rushed to a window and saw a dog struggling to stay afloat on the partially frozen pond behind their home in Chesapeake, Virginia. The top of the dog’s head was covered in ice as he flailed in the pond, which is about 20 feet deep.
Pinneo, a senior at Grassfield High School, threw on a jacket and shoes, and ran outside.
“My instinct kicked in, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to go save that dog,’” Pinneo said.
He grabbed a kayak from his backyard and sprinted to the pond, which is about an eighth of a mile long and 200 feet wide, he said. His mother handed him a paddle as he headed into the frigid water.
“I had to rush out into the water,” Pinneo said. “I was going really fast.”
The temperature that afternoon, this past Friday, was around 39 degrees. Pinneo paddled across the half-frozen pond to reach the pup, who was still struggling. Pinneo’s first attempt to lift the animal failed.
“I got you, I got you,” Pinneo reassured the dog. “It’s okay.”
Pinneo kept trying and managed to lift the pup — which he believes weighs about 35 pounds — by his fur and onto the kayak.
“I’m going to lift you, okay?” Pinneo said in a video of the rescue, his voice sounding short of breath.
The rescue was captured from Pinneo’s perspective, as he was wearing Meta smart glasses, which he used to take a hands-free video.
“I just wanted to have a video because maybe in the future I’d look back and think that was a cool thing I did,” Pinneo said.
The dog’s owner was outside during the rescue, near the edge of the pond and a few houses down, and Pinneo yelled out asking for the dog’s name. The person responded, “Bernard.”
Pinneo said the dog was quivering on the kayak, so he took off his coat and wrapped it around the pup. He was left wearing just a T-shirt.
“I was like, ‘He needs to get something on him,’” Pinneo said, explaining that he was so focused on Bernard that he hardly registered the cold. “I think it was just adrenaline running and my blood rushing that kept me warm the whole time.”
Pinneo said he isn’t sure how long the dog was treading water or how he got out there in the first place.
“I would have guessed he was out there for quite a long time,” Pinneo said. “I wasn’t sure how much longer he had left in the water.”
As Pinneo paddled toward the shore, breaking through sheets of ice with his paddle, he kept reassuring the frightened animal.
“I know, buddy, I know,” he repeated. “It’s okay.”
“You’re cold, I know … I’m here buddy,” Pinneo said to the dog. “You’re scared, I’m scared, too.”
Once they got out of the kayak, Pinneo’s mother placed the dog on a leash she had inside her house and brought Bernard to the front of the house to reunite with his owner on the street.
“My mom said the owner was very thankful,” Pinneo said, noting that the owners called the fire department and animal control before Pinneo went out with his kayak.
Several fire trucks, first-responder vehicles and an animal-control truck arrived shortly after the rescue.
“I don’t know if it would have been in time,” Pinneo said.
Pinneo said he and his family do not know the owner, but they believe he lives in the neighborhood.
Before changing out of his wet, cold clothes, Pinneo said he took some deep breaths.
“I kind of just took a minute to sit there and thank God that nothing bad happened,” Pinneo said. “I was glad I was able to save the dog.”
Though he doesn’t typically post on social media, Pinneo said, he decided to share his three-part rescue video, and it went viral — which was the last thing he expected. WAVY-TV picked up the story.
“To see all the positive feedback everyone is giving me on social media and all the love they’re giving, I’m really grateful for that,” Pinneo said. “I think people are really happy to see that the dog is safe.”
Pinneo, who has two dogs and a cat at home, described himself as an “on and off” dog and cat person.
“But I think now I’m definitely a dog person,” he said.
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