This past weekend, a dog was rescued by a dinner cruise boat after being spotted paddling alone over a mile from shore off Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Captain Terry Johns, along with co-captain Kurt Echols, maneuvered the Sanibel Harbor Princess yacht to safely rescue the pup, who they later learned is named Ellie. The crew and passengers gave the dog food and water, saying that she was "very friendly" and "very happy" despite her ordeal.
After being brought back to land, Ellie was taken to a veterinarian who discovered her microchip was not functioning properly. A crew member from the yacht volunteered to take Ellie until her family could be located. Captain Johns contacted local news to share the rescue story, which was seen by Ellie’s owners, Ben and Kathleen Baker, who’d been searching for their missing dog.
The Bakers were relieved and overjoyed to see Ellie on the news and quickly made arrangements to bring her home. They’d lost track of her during a boat trip earlier that day and had spent hours searching for her. Ben shared how emotional it had been to lose their pup and not know whether she was safe or not, but he and his wife were thankful to be happily reunited with Ellie and grateful for the yacht crew and local news coverage.
Source: PEOPLE