Pastor Hears Wife Scream, Grabs Rope and Braves Icy Pond to Save Drowning Dog
Just like humans, dogs know what it feels like to fear for their life when in trouble. Since they’re always protecting us from harm, it’s only right that we return the favor when the opportunity arises.
Jeff Mann, the pastor of CrossBridge Baptist Church in Marshfield, Missouri, took on one of these missions recently.
Upon returning home from work, the pastor suddenly heard his wife, Selina, scream for his help.
Their neighbor’s dog had become stuck in the frozen pond in their backyard. Mann’s wife first noticed it splashing around in the water from their kitchen window.
Mann quickly grabbed a rope and made his way over to the pond. His Facebook video, which has already gained over 211,000 views, shared the moments he attempted to save the drowning dog.
While carrying the rope in one hand, Mann slowly made his way across the ice toward the pup.
“Once I was already out there, your mind starts running like ‘Man, this is pretty dangerous,'” he told the Springfield News-Leader in a phone interview.
Once he got close enough, he tried several attempts to throw it out to the dog. By that point, Mann was so nervous about the ice cracking that he even asked for a life jacket in the video.
Yet, he continued with the rescue and tried his hardest to get the rope to the dog without falling in.
Eventually, the rope was thrown far enough for the dog to grab a hold of it with its mouth.
After pulling the animal to safety, Mann was relieved his rope idea had worked. “I’m glad I didn’t want to take a polar bear plunge which I thought I was about too,” he said in his Facebook post.
He was even more surprised by the dog’s response to the trick. It somehow knew Mann was there to help.
“The really neat part of it was that the dog was smart enough to bite onto the rope,” Mann said. “If he didn’t do that, I was going to have to go out there and bust through the ice.”
Everyone else on Facebook also agreed, as one person humorously wrote: “I love how the dog held the rope until he was safely ashore. I’m sure he did that just in case the ice gave way and he needed to save you.”
The pup later warmed up and ate at Mann’s house until returning home to its owners.
Mann may never get over how intelligent the dog was to grab the rope, but good thing he had enough faith to give the rescue a chance and in the process, save this pup’s life.
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