These "lifedogs" wear a harness or tow a buoy that victims can grab, or a raft they can sit on to be towed back to shore, and unlike their human counterparts, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.
With millions flocking to Italy's crowded beaches each summer, the Italian Coast Guard says it rescues about 3,000 people every year — and their canine helpers are credited with saving several lives.
Training takes three years to reach expert rescue status.
Roberto Gasbarri, who coordinates the Italian School of Canine Lifeguards program in the seaside town of Civitavecchia, said 300 dogs are fully qualified for duty.
"The dog becomes a sort of intelligent lifebuoy. It is a buoy that goes by itself to a person in need of help, and comes back to the shore also by himself, choosing the best landing point and swimming through the safest currents," he said.
Any breed can be trained as long as the pooch is at least 66 pounds.
Yesterday, I got to do a story that was published today about the canine tent at the Dutchess County Fair. There were diving dogs, flying disk-catching dogs and dogs running agility courses.
It's the seventh year in a row that the fair has had an exhibition devoted to companion animals — the only exhibit at the fair. The rest are cows, horse, goats, chickens and such — domesticated animals, sure, but not considered pets.
The canine tent goes from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day of the fair, through Sunday.
Here's a video clip (Note to Gannett Corporate: I took the video with my cell phone camera) of Erich Steffensen of Millbrook, N.Y., working with his dog Java, a 3-year-old female border collie.
The dock diving demonstration was fun as well. The fair put a 45-foot-long pool next to the canine tent and twice a day dogs leaped into the water after their favorite toys.
And, of course, you had to watch out for the inevitable consequence of a dog in water. Our finest
Also at the fair, everyday except Sunday, will be police K-9 demonstrations. Besides a program at 1:30 in the canine tent, the K-9 officers will have a demonstration tonight and Friday between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and at noon Saturday at Livestock Hill.
I spoke with Lt. Charles Hicks of the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office. His partner, Timber, is an accelerant detection canine.
These demonstrations show a little bit of what the patrol dogs can do, he said. They will be showing obedience and agility training, apprehending a suspect and a car stop like on the street.
Hicks said they will also be doing a little bit of audience participation, where they bring a kid up to help out.
"It helps them realize that these dogs can be petted," he said.
At the fair Wednesday were K-9 teams from the sheriff's office, the towns of Newburgh and Poughkeepsie and Mt. Vernon.
Check them out if you haven't seen them in action. These guys and their canine partners are fantastic.
Rescue dogs
The booths in the canine tent were staffed by a few of commercial outfits, like Ledgewood Kennels who have taken such good care of Kate in the past, and some nonprofit rescue groups.
Canine tent organizer Dale Mountain said the nonprofits are not charged for space at the fair. They are provided a place to give information to the public about the plight of dog overpopulation.
I spoke with Campbell Muir of Saugerties, N.Y., who runs the Labrador Retriever Rescue of the Hudson Valley.
He said they are at the fair to do some fund raising and to make the public aware of lab rescues.
"A lot of people don't realize that labs are abandoned," Muir said. "Kids go back to school and the mother and father will get rid of the dog. Or they will get a dog for the kids for the summer and then get rid of it."
Last night I was watching Monday's Late Show with David Letterman.
He had the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge, with three dogs jumping into a pool.
The winner was Reggie, a 3-year-old black lab owned by Scott Conrad from Redline, Penn.
The beautiful dog jumped 25 feet 7 inches to win a loving cup filled with dog biscuits.
The great thing about having a TiVo — well, one of the great things — is being able to slo-mo at will. So I slo-mo'd Reggie as soon as he climbed out of the pool. It was incredible how he started shaking and the water fell away from him from his nose right down to his tail.
It was poetry in motion.
Unfortunately, the clip isn't on Letterman's Web site, but I managed to find a good example of what I'm talking about.
About Woyton: He's a Poughkeepsie Journal reporter and a dog owner, though not necessarily in that order.
About Kate: She was named after Kate Hepburn. It's the cheekbones. Kate is a (best guess) 14-year-old (even more of a guess) boxer/shepherd mix, who is (absolute certainty!) a sweetheart and the best dog in the whole wide world.
