Woman has been rescued from West Lakes after trying to save her dog

The water-loving retriever’s enthusiasm left its owner up to her neck in trouble as a police officer had to strip down to save the day.

A dog owner has described the moment her pet dog was rescued by a ‘half-naked’ police officer after finding trouble in the water at West Lakes on Friday.

Semaphore Park woman Cassie Schneider was walking her dog ‘Juice’ on a path adjacent to the boating lake at about 9.30am on Friday when he managed to break free from his collar.

The four-year-old Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever immediately jumped into the water and started swimming towards the buoys in the middle of the estuary.

Cassie Schneider with her dog, Juice, 4 at the West Lakes Shore. Picture: Matt Loxton

“It all happened so quick, I felt the leash go slack and then heard a splash and he was swimming towards the centre of the lake,” she said.

“I didn’t have time to grab him before he dived into the water.”

When Juice wouldn’t return to the call of his name, Ms Schneider started to panic.

“He thought the buoys were balls and was just swimming along for ages. I measured it later and it was about 2km,” she said.

“I could see him getting disorientated and thought he was going to drown.”

She eventually found a man - Alex - working at a property nearby who found a kayak.

Juice, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, was rescued by police after they swam out into the middle of West Lakes. Picture: SAPOL

“I jumped in it fully-clothed and started paddling towards Juice,” she said.

“But as I was trying to lift Juice onto the kayak, it capsized.”

All of a sudden, Ms Schneider said she now feared for her own safety.

“When I fell in, Juice left me for dead,” she joked.

“I can swim, but I had a jacket on and it’s a different story when you are weighed down by all your clothes.

“I was just laying on my back trying to meditate and calm my breathing.”

Watching from the shore, Alex saw Ms Schneider in trouble and jumped in another kayak to rescue her.

Someone had also called emergency services.

“I’m not sure if that was Alex or someone else, but I saw the cops and paramedics rock up, which was all very dramatic,” she said.

“One of the cops stripped down to his underwear, hopped on a kayak, barrelled through the waves like an Ironman and rescued my dog.”

Juice takes one of his regular - less dramatic - swims. Picture: Supplied

With a few days to gather her thoughts, Ms Schneider said she had managed to see the lighter side of the situation.

“I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was incredibly frightening and I was in tears,” she said.

“I can’t thank Alex and the police officers enough because I honestly believe they saved Juice’s life.”

Ms Schneider said a love for water was in the nature of Juice’s breed.

“He’s actually a really well-behaved dog, believe it or not, except when it comes to water,” she said.

“I normally walk him on a harness that he can’t escape from and we just bought this new collar, which I’ll never be using again.”

She said Juice was doing well since the ordeal.

“I’ll be a bit more cautious now,” she said.

“At least at the beach he knows where the shore is, we found out that West Lakes is just a whole different story.”