Spectacular! Canine Lifeguards to the rescue in Italy

[hlthe2b]

I find this fantastic...

CIVITAVECCHIA, Italy — They leap from helicopters or speeding boats, bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy's popular beaches.
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Hundreds of specially trained dogs from Italy's corps of canine lifeguards are deployed each summer to help swimmers in need of rescue.

These "lifedogs" wear a harness or tow a buoy that victims can grab, or a raft they can sit on to be towed back to shore, and unlike their human counterparts, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.
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It takes three years for the canines to reach expert rescue status, and currently 300 dogs are fully trained for duty, said Roberto Gasbarri, who coordinates the Italian School of Canine Lifeguards program at a center outside of Rome in the seaside town of Civitavecchia.

More at the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/23/canine-lifeguards-doggie-_n_691454.html

[xultar]

1. I love me some Newffies!!!! I want one so bad. They are awesome!

[TygrBright]

2. EXTREMELY cool!

Dogs are our wonderful partners in so many, many important things.

Makes it all the more imperative to ban puppy mills, dogfighting, and other forms of useless, sickening cruelty to these good friends.

hopefully,
Bright

[Judi Lynn]

3. Woohoo! "Canine lifeguards doggie paddle to the rescue"

Canine lifeguards doggie paddle to the rescue
By FRANCESCO MANETTI

updated 2 hours 32 minutes ago

Same story, but MSNBC has added a short video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38820088/ns/world_news-wonderful_world/

Hope they haven't lost any furry heroes!

[yowzayowzayowza]

4. Way cool, thx.!!! n/t

[hlthe2b]

7. Thanks for adding the video...

I wish they had captured the dogs jumping from helicopters... but it was still good.

I just love days when I find a good animal story, especially those that blow some misconceptions about animals and animal "worth" into the water... :loveya:

[flvegan]

5. I watched a tv show about this very thing not two weeks ago.

It was very, very interesting.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. cool