As soon as Chris MacRitchie saw a helpless dog in freezing cold waters struggling to get to shore, he knew what decision he needed to make.
Videos by Suggest
The Vermont man’s son first spotted a dog floating in a river surrounded by snow while at nearby Dunkin’ Donuts. MacRitchie, along with his wife and son, quickly made their way to the Winooski River where the dog was trying to stay afloat.
MacRitchie made the choice to try and save the pooch, carefully wading into the icy river. The man made his way over to the dog and was able to successfully carry her back to dry land.
MacRitchie soon met his wife, who then covered the dog with a sweatshirt. The rescue was caught on camera by the man’s son, which was later uploaded to a local Vermont Facebook page.
“It was like one of those moments everyone probably has in their life like you’re going to make a decision,” MacRitchie said. “I felt I was obligated to at least try to fetch this dog out of the river, as I have two dogs myself, and I would hope someone would do that for them if they were in that spot.”
Rescued Dog Reunites With Its Owner
The video shows MacRitchie in just a T-shirt, sweatpants and boots wading into the partially frozen river.
“The only real stress I had about it wasn’t getting in the cold water. It was the depth. I did not know if it was 20 feet deep or it was 2 feet deep,” he said. “When I broke through and I got on my feet and it was like waist-high, I was actually relieved by that. In my mind, during the moment, I thought, ‘OK this isn’t that bad. Yeah, it’s cold, but I feel this is a very doable situation.'”
The information for the dog’s owner was printed on the dog’s tag, so MacRitchie soon called her to let her know the good news. The owner, Morgan Cerasoli, said she had been looking for her 7-year-old mutt since the day prior.
“I started crying, and I told him, ‘Oh, my God, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Let me pull a U-turn and I’m coming right back,'” Cerasoli said in an interview.
According to the New York Post, the dog has “mostly recovered” and is back home safe with her owner.
“It’s brave, it’s selfless, it’s commendable,” Cerasoli said. “It’s everything that I think that we were on this Earth to be. Sometimes it feels like that’s very rare these days.”