An RNLI lifeboat has successfully rescued a dog after it swam out to sea while being walked by its owner on the south coast.
Marie Palmer was exercising her Golden Retriever called Solomon, when he entered the Solent for a swim and never turned back.
Marie told the Daily Express: “I thought he would swim for a minute and look at me to throw a stick like he usually does – but he just kept swimming further out and out.”
With Solomon heading determindly towards the Isle of Wight, Marie panicked and borrowed a mobile phone from a street cleaner to call the emergency services.
Two RNLI boats were immediately dispatched to search the Solent for the missing pet while Marie waited anxiously for news.
Three hours later an exhausted Solomon was found swimming off Bembridge on the Isle of Wight – five milesaway from the beach he left on the south coast.
Once reunited with his delighted owner, Solomon returned home to Southsea near Portsmouth, where, according to Marie, he slept for hours.
Marie said: “He’s normally such a well-behaved dog but he seemed to be on a mission and didn’t look back once. One of the lifeboat crew members joked that he must have spotted a cat on the Isle of Wight and decided to give chase!”
