Dog rescued from icy lake

Two Lake Country men ventured into the freezing cold waters of Wood Lake Tuesday to rescue a small dog that had fallen through some ice.

Bill Varner and his neighbour, Dylan Cocquyt, discovered the small dog barking in distress behind their houses.

“I looked out and I thought it was a duck splashing in the water,” said Varner. “I looked again and thought, that's not a duck, that's a dog.”

Cocquyt began venturing out into the water, breaking the ice with a barbell, but Varner had a better idea.

Borrowing a neighbour's canoe, the pair began paddling out towards the dog.

“That canoe was very unstable,” said Varner. “It was a pretty tipsy canoe.”

Once they were near, Varner grabbed the small dog by the collar and lifted him to safety.

Dylan called the number that was on the dog's tag, and some very grateful owners came by to pick up their lost dog.

“The whole thing, from the time we first saw the dog until the owners picked it up, I don't think it was 15 minutes,” Varner said. “The dog hadn't been in there for very long.”