Man saves disoriented dog from ocean at Northwest Arm

The owner of a 16-month-old dog is praising the "selfless" man who rescued the dog after it swam too far out from a Halifax beach and became disoriented.

Lisa Delong was at Black Rock Beach in Point Pleasant Park on Sunday morning with her dog Nellie, a Labrador and Weimaraner mix.

Nellie swam out of the beach, into Halifax Harbour, then turned into the Northwest Arm and swam in circles for about an hour.

Tired and confused

"I could see that she seemed to be confused. She started swimming up the middle of the arm," said Delong.

"I started calling her and a number of people saw that she wasn't coming back."

People from the shore started calling out to Nellie and making calls to a nearby yacht club to see if they could help. Delong said her dog appeared to be tired and confused.

'I'm going out for the dog'

Bev Sweetnam, who was at Point Pleasant Park at the time, said a man was walking by with his dog, saw what was happening and jumped in to help.

"He just said, 'I'm going out for the dog' and he took his shirt off and stuff out of his pockets," said Sweetnam.

Delong said the next thing she knew, the man — Adam Parker — was in the water swimming out to Nellie and redirecting her to come to shore.

"He must have been swimming for about 20 minutes," she said.

'It was amazing'

Sweetnam said Parker swam into the middle of the Northwest Arm and "he was able to corral the dog and kind of herd the dog back into shore."

"It was amazing. The guy was fantastic," she said.

Delong said people applauded Parker once he caught his breath back on the shore.

'He saved my dog's life'

"I thought it was very selfless. It could have been dangerous for him as well," said Delong. "I think he had a good sense of dogs, had a good sense to keep his distance and to not get too close to her."

Delong says Nellie was tired but otherwise fine following the rescue. She said there's no question her dog wouldn't have found her way back to shore without Parker.

"He really saved the day. He saved my dog's life."