Sadie, a five-year-old Lab mix visiting from out of town with her owners Alexis and Brandon, bolted out the front door of their vacation rental during Sunday’s football game and vanished. Her owners tracked her AirTag down the coastline as they frantically searched, unaware that Sadie had already covered nearly two miles before reaching Dog Beach in Ocean Beach.
According to San Diego Fire-Rescue, surfers near Lifeguard Tower 2 alerted crews that a dog had been swept off a jetty and pulled into the rip current at the mouth of the San Diego River channel. Lifeguard units immediately launched a search, assisted by a U.S. Coast Guard small boat. The dog quickly disappeared into the turbulent channel, and the frantic search stretched on with no sightings.
Lifeguards scoured the water for over an hour, battling surf, glare, currents and distance. The search was eventually called off - another grim reminder of how quickly the ocean can claim even experienced swimmers, let alone a frightened pet. But two lifeguards, scanning the horizon from a rescue watercraft, made one final pass. In the bright afternoon light off South Mission Beach, they spotted the faintest break in the water: a small, exhausted snout barely above the surface.
Sadie was alive. A rescue jet ski raced to her, lifting her onto the craft before transferring her to a waiting surf boat. She was taken to Lifeguard Headquarters, where the soaked, shivering dog was reunited with her equally shaken owners. San Diego Fire described the save as a “miracle” and an example of the unpredictable, high-stakes situations lifeguards face on the city’s busy coastline.
Sadie survived cold water, powerful currents, and a long drift offshore - an ordeal that could easily have ended in tragedy. Her rescue underscores both the dangers of San Diego’s winter surf conditions and the exceptional skill of the city’s lifeguard corps, who manage everything from rip current saves to cliff rescues to unpredictable marine emergencies.
As lifeguards put it, this one ended on the rarest of notes: a lost dog found alive in the open ocean.
Originally published on November 25, 2025.
