WOOF YOU BELIEVE IT…?
They are truly true coastal companions… CHRISSY HARRIS finds out about the dogs that love to work, rest and play by the water coast DISCOVERY
Regular meals, plenty of walks, the occasional biscuit – and rescuing nine people from drowning. Yes, Whizz the Newfoundland led an extraordinary dog’s life. The gentle giant was one of only a handful of dogs in the UK trained to help save people in difficulty in the water.
Owner David Pugh happily acknowledges that Whizz has been his greatest success story. He set up Newfound Friends in 1989 to showcase the work Newfoundlands can do through demonstrations of their skills in the water, all while raising money for charity.
So far, Whizz has been the only Newfound Friend to have carried out life-saving work outside of these display sessions.
The 12-stone gentle giant spent years patrolling the Bristol Channel and the River Severn with the Royal Navy, the Severn Area Rescue Association and the Marine Volunteer Service.
In 2008, Whizz pulled two young girls to safety who had got into difficulty in their dinghy off Oxwich beach, South Wales. In 2011, he pulled a swimmer having an asthma attack to a waiting lifeboat.
Trained lifeguard David has recently written a book about his exceptional rescue dog, who passed away aged 12 in 2016 and was awarded a posthumous PDSA Order of Merit – known as the animals’ OBE – for outstanding devotion to duty.
Today, Whizz’s legacy lives on through David’s other dogs and the charity work Newfound Friends continues to do to raise awareness of water safety.
“I love these dogs, they’re my life,” says David, who lives near Bristol but travels all over the country with his team, including Tizz and Ted. “If you train the dogs to rescue people, then you have to have an outlet for them,” says David. “We do charity events where people can be sponsored to be rescued by the dogs. The other thing we do is maritime events. We show all the various ways of rescuing people.”
David says he never puts his dogs in a situation he wouldn’t be happy to be in himself and always makes sure he’s confident his highly trained team can cope with the task in hand.
“People just love seeing these dogs in their natural environment,” says David, who has led displays up and down the coast, including Swansea and Southampton, and at Dartmouth Regatta in Devon. “I mean, if you know anything about Newfoundland dogs, you’ll know that they love the water and it’s where they want to be.
“People come up to me afterwards and they’re amazed at the strength of the dogs and what they can do. A lot of it is natural instinct.
“They are the dogs for the coast, they always have
