When a dog saw that her brother had fallen into a swimming pool, she refused to give up until she saved him, and it was all caught on video.
On an otherwise seemingly ordinary and sunny day, Byron Thanarayen and his wife Melissa returned to their home in Boksburg, South Africa, where they discovered their 13-year-old Pomeranian named Chucky was inexplicably wet. Initially, the couple assumed the dog had splashed around in his water bowl and expected to find a mess in the house. So, the couple began to investigate.
“We thought maybe he dipped his head in the water [bowl], but there was no mess in the house to support this suggestion,” Bryon recalled, according to People.
When the Thanarayens didn’t find any evidence indicating that Chucky had been playing in his dish, they were perplexed. Wondering what had happened and wanting to get to the bottom of the mystery, they turned to the footage from their security cameras to see what their beloved pets had been up to while they were away. What they saw had them hugging both of their pups a little bit tighter.
Their hearts started to race as Byron and Melissa Thanarayen watched the terrifying footage that their security cameras had captured. In the video, the couple saw Chucky walking along the path around their backyard swimming pool, but the dog was distracted, looking to his left rather than where he was going. Then, much to the Thanarayens’ horror, Checky stumbled directly into the pool, falling into the water.
Unable to get out, the tiny pooch flailed in the water, circling the pool’s perimeter, desperately looking for a way out. Thankfully, although Byron and Melissa weren’t home, another family member was, and she soon stumbled upon Chucky as the dog’s situation was becoming increasingly desperate. It was Jessie, the Thanarayens’ 7-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, and she wasn’t about to let her brother drown.
After becoming noticeably upset by the sight of her canine brother struggling to keep his head about the water, Jessie began circling the pool’s edge, staying near Chucky as if she was encouraging him to keep swimming, according to Inspire More. Then, after 34 agonizing minutes, Jessie took matters into her own hands—or should we say mouths—as she grabbed the much smaller dog in her jaws.
Although it took multiple attempts with Chucky slipping out of Jessie’s grasp time and again, the larger dog finally rescued her much smaller brother, pulling him out of the water and onto the concrete near the pool’s edge. After hauling him out of the pool by the scruff of his neck, Jessie placed a big paw on Chucky’s back as if she were holding him in place and ensuring he didn’t slide back into the water.
After realizing Jessie was a hero, Byron and Melissa Thanarayen were incredibly grateful to the terrier for her bravery. However, that didn’t make the terrifying footage any easier to watch, and the couple quickly admitted that they had learned a lesson that they wouldn’t soon forget.
“It was heart-wrenching to watch. We still struggle to watch that video today, just thinking of what could have happened if Jessie was not there,” Byron admitted. “I’m really proud of her, considering she is the youngest,” he continued before adding, “It never occurred to us previously that we needed the cover, but since this incident, we saw how important it is to have one.”
Byron hit on an excellent point that they hadn’t previously considered. Explaining that he and Melissa had trained their dogs to swim, Byron admitted that they didn’t see a need for a pool cover. However, a barrier on or around a swimming pool is extremely important for both pets and children. We hope that as Jessie and Chucky’s story is shared, it helps to save lives. Pool ownership is fun, but it’s also dangerous, and no one wants to lose someone they love to a preventable accident. So, whether it’s a fence or a cover, it’s important to ensure your pool is secure.
