Moose On The Loose! Man Breaks Through Icy Creek To Rescue Dog Missing For Days.

Luis Nicolao and his dog Moose

We love dogs, but let’s face it; sometimes they don’t exactly act in their own best interest.

A dog-dad from Annapolis, Maryland is counting his blessings after his Aussie Doodle took himself for an adventure just a few days before Christmas. Luis and Kellie Nicolao left Moose with friend Nicolina Converso while they took a trip to California, but a few days later, the dog slipped out an open door and bolted.

Nicolina couldn’t catch the dog, so she did the next best thing: She posted about the naughty pooch on her community’s Facebook page. She also called Luis to tell him Moose was on the loose.

“My heart just dropped,” Luis recalled. “It was a complete moment of, ‘oh my gosh.'”

Soon, everyone in Nicolina’s community was keeping their eyes peeled for the missing dog. They even created a new Facebook page to keep track of the Moose sightings, naming it “Operation Fur Fugitive.”

“I was getting phone calls and text messages and emails and Facebook messages, it was nonstop,” said Nicolina.

A few extremely chilly days later, someone spotted a dog near a frozen-over creek and called Nicolina, who quickly alerted Luis. When Luis arrived at the scene, his heart dropped. Moose was stuck in the freezing water!

Luis had to shake off the shock that hit his body as he saw where his dog was stuck. Luckily for Moose, Luis is an incredibly strong swimmer. In fact, he’s the coach of the United States Naval Academy water polo team! Nicolina recounted his “desperate attempt to save Moose’s life” on Facebook.

“Luis dove into the frigid ice and water,” she wrote. “He broke through about 20 yards of ice in about 4ft deep water to get to Moose. Moose then barking/welping was excited to see his dad. Luis picked him up and Moose rested his head on his shoulder. Luis suffered multiple cuts to his hands and bruises on his legs from breaking through very thick ice.”

Luis rushed Moose to the emergency vet to get checked out, but he was unhurt! After a nice warm bath and some dinner, the dog was back to his usual goofy ways. Luis, Nicolina, and everyone else who’d been on the lookout were relieved for a happy ending to a scary story.

“I went from this point of complete despair to here, I got a chance to save his life,” Luis said later. “It was overwhelming, it was awesome and to all the people, the community, we teach this all the time in sports and the academy: it’s community over individual, team over individual and everybody came together for this one little dog. I’ll be forever grateful.”

Oh, Moose! We’ll never know what possessed Moose to dart out of the warm house where he was staying, or how he wound up stranded in an icy creek… we’ll bet Moose doesn’t even know! The important thing is that he got home safely thanks to his dad’s bravery and strength.

Share this story to welcome Moose home.

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