CAMDEN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Benton County rescue crews responded to the call of a man and his dog drowning in a lake on Monday.
Brandy the dog is a 130 pound St. Bernard and Pyrenees mix.
According to officials, the initial call came in about Brandy drowning, before the man, Greg Gamboa, took it upon himself to go into the lake to get the dog.
That's when the second 911 call came in from Greg's wife.
According to Benton County Sheriff Kenny Christopher, the rescue was a dramatic one with units running emergency traffic to get there quickly.
"They had lost sight of the dog, it went under the ice apparently," "With a flashlight they could just see the dogs eyes."
The rescue squad went into the water via boat.
"In my mind I was thinking, 'they're not gonna make it.' He was hanging onto this garden hose and in his own words he told me 'I was at the point of exhaustion, I didn't realize it was gonna be as bad as it was,'" Christopher said.
After 30 minutes in the pond for Brandy and 18 minutes for Greg, the sheriffs pulled them out.
In the aftermath, the Sheriff warns people not to put yourself in critical danger to save the life of your pet, but admitted that is hard to live by when man's best friend is in trouble.
"Sometimes you just gotta throw caution to the wind and say, you know, 'what am I going to be able to live with if I don't try?'" he said.
Both Greg and Brandy are recovering now, with no long term injuries.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
