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Imagine you’re walking your dog, lakeside, in wintertime and you see a strange dog wander out onto the ice and fall through. Would you scream for help? Call 911? Or would you march straight into the water, breaking the icy crust as you went, to rescue the dog before hypothermia set in?

This Vancouver woman went with C in a resounding manner.

Area resident Ben West was walking his pup in the park when he noticed another dog out on the ice of the frozen lake. A moment later, the ice gave way and the dog fell in. It was unable to get itself up and out, and quite far from the shoreline. Other onlookers called and encouraged, trying to coax the dog out.

Then one woman decided to take matters into her own hands, heading out into the lake and breaking the ice as she went.

“People were kind-of cautioning her — ‘Don’t do it,’” West told the CBC. But all she said was, ‘It’s a dog, I have to.’”

She was waist-deep by the time she reached the dog, her winter garb doubtless heavy and waterlogged. Holding onto the animal, she trudged back out the way she’d gone in. By the time she reached the shore, paramedics, who had been called by those waiting, were ready with blankets.

West never got the woman’s name, but said she was calm throughout the ordeal.

The dog, post-toweling, was back to playing with the other dogs in the park, no worse for wear.

“I was just in shock—and really amazed at this woman’s heroic instinct to go do this thing,” added West. “It wasn’t even her dog.”

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When his neighbor’s dog was trapped in the waters of an icy pond out back, this man wasted no time getting out on the dangerous ice to pull the pup to safety!. Wonderful rescue, great video from AnimalKind

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The Wilmington Fire Department performed a double rescue Sunday night, when they not only rescued a man from the frosty Brandywine River, but the family dog the victim had been trying to save himself.

Rescuers managed to retrieve the man from an ice flow, Battalion Chief John Looney told the Delaware News Journal. Wearing ice suits, Looney said they made their way into the river and plucked him from the water before any cold weather injuries set in.

“Ice rescue incidents can be very difficult and time consuming due to the fact we need to move with caution,” Looney said. “The temperatures that personnel encounter are obviously unpleasant and we must be prepared to immediately rehab/rewarm rescuers once the incident is completed.”

It took another 40 minutes to save the dog, Looney said.

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Neither man nor dog needed emergency treatment and no firefighters were hurt during the incident.

“It’s difficult to retrieve a stranded dog on ice because they are cold, wet, and frightened and do not want to cooperate with rescuers. We always make sure once the dog is retrieved [that we] make arrangements for treatment,” Looney said.

Pup and pop were happy to be reunited.

“The dog seemed to be in good spirits once he came up from the riverbank,” said WFD Lt. Andrew Cavanaugh. “It’s an extremely difficult rescue.”

It was around 10 p.m. Sunday when firefighters in Wilmington assembled to help rescue a man who was trying to rescue his dog from a frozen river. Photo: WFD