A summer lake does not look dangerous in October. This reel is about six minutes, and it starts by saying so: the Italian lakes are calm once the season is over, and hard to imagine full of bathers. Then it introduces a lifeguard who is a dog. Zoe, the narration says, can swim over four kilometers, jump from a helicopter, and pull a dinghy with her teeth. She comes from the Italian School of Water Rescue Dogs, and the narration says dogs from that work saved more than twenty lives in the last year.
The rest of the reel is training, not a medal ceremony. Newfoundlands, Labradors, and retrievers are named as the swimmers. The dogs have to want the work. They jump from as high as five meters, including from a helicopter, at a refresher on a lake in Lombardy. Vera and her handler Bettina are one team. The narration stays on the body: a webbed foot, a waterproof coat, a swim of up to a kilometer to a person pretending to drown, and the job of holding a victim while a handler works. Zoe and a handler named Renato are in the same practice. The close sends Zoe back to the coast for summer.
A broadcaster or a sponsor hiring Beacon for a reel like this is buying one animal a viewer will remember, inside a story that can sit in a longer program. A poster of a dog in a vest does not show the jump.
They did not need a training manual. They needed Zoe. That is what this video is for.
Read transcript Video dialogue and narration
[00:00.000] Extraordinary Docks is brought to you by U Canuba, where we believe all docks are extraordinary.
[00:19.920] With the peak season over, the Italian lakes look calm and serene. Hard to imagine that
[00:25.920] these waters in the summer are crammed with thousands of bathers.
[00:32.000] Lifeguards must patrol the waters.
[00:36.080] Among them is a dog called Zoe.
[00:40.520] She is one of the best in the business.
[00:43.880] Amazingly, she can swim over four kilometers, jump out of a helicopter into the lake, and
[00:50.000] pull dinghies with her teeth.
[00:53.200] Zoe is a graduate of the Italian School of Water Rescue Dogs, set up by Ferruccio Polenga.
[00:59.760] Using their extraordinary abilities, these dogs have saved over 20 lives in the last
[01:03.960] year alone.
[01:04.960] I went to the United States for a little bit of a ride, and I was a little bit more comfortable
[01:13.800] with the
[01:19.380] After them, one would think that swimming was common to all dogs.
[01:24.420] However, some are vastly better than others.
[01:28.500] Newfoundland's, Labrador's and retrievers with their large size
[01:32.340] are the Olympians of canine swimming and make the best dog lifeguards.
[01:38.340] But their size, power and natural love of the water are not enough.
[01:42.820] To become lifeguards, they need to train.
[01:45.340] At the beginning, the first thing that a dog has to learn is how to swim, because then
[01:56.300] we have some specific exercises that we have to follow.
[02:01.140] The most important thing is that they have to be happy to work.
[02:05.540] It's a game for them, it's a game for us.
[02:10.180] And it's not just swimming.
[02:11.920] They have to learn how to jump into the lake
[02:13.840] from heights of up to five meters,
[02:16.960] from a moving helicopter.
[02:20.040] Today, the team are holding a refresher training course
[02:22.860] at Lake Eseo in Lombardy.
[02:25.840] In our second, the dogs are important to the
[02:38.240] Before the dogs take to the air,
[02:40.080] They must get used to the noise and alarming rotor blades of the helicopter.
[02:48.160] Vera and handler Bettina are one of the teams taking part in today's exercise.
[02:53.680] Vera hasn't done helicopter training before, but she has done a lot of water work.
[02:59.760] We started when she was only a puppy and she's very good now.
[03:04.800] New felons are built for water rescue work.
[03:07.360] They have the instinct for it and we definitely want to keep it that way.
[03:17.520] The helicopter hovers above the water. Bettina will jump first, followed by Vera.
[03:24.560] Whether the dog jumps with or without their handler is based on how experienced they are.
[03:29.960] Once in the water, Vera must navigate through the choppy waves created by the helicopter
[03:34.880] and swim a distance of up to one kilometer to the test person who is pretending to drown.
[03:44.160] Distance swimming is one of the key areas of training and the dogs need to be able to
[03:47.880] perform rescues for up to four kilometers.
[03:57.760] Newfoundlands like Vera have a large powerful tail and feet with a degree of webbing. She
[04:03.380] She has a paw 9 cm long and 11.5 cm wide, which gives her a powerful thrust with every
[04:09.920] stroke.
[04:11.940] Studies have suggested that dogs are one of the few non-aquatic mammals that can hold
[04:15.920] their breath.
[04:17.300] This helps them perform even if their head is immersed, by protecting the larynx from
[04:21.080] the entry of water into their lungs.
[04:25.280] Vera also has a thick, waterproof coat which protects her from the cold when swimming.
[04:29.960] Nifalans also have very big lung capacity,
[04:34.960] which helps them swim long distances.
[04:37.960] Dogs that are good at swimming have very mobile joints.
[04:40.960] Most of their joints tend to be more lax, which is a good thing for swimming.
[04:44.960] Some of the best swimming dogs might be in the top 25% of elite swimming people
[04:53.960] in terms of speed.
[04:55.960] Zoe and Renato are also amongst the teams practicing today.
[04:59.960] They need to complete a variety of swimming distances.
[05:03.960] The dogs must be capable of swimming while dragging an adult human swimmer
[05:07.960] for up to an hour in rough waters.
[05:14.960] With the dogs supporting the victim,
[05:16.960] the handler is able to perform procedures
[05:18.960] such as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while floating in the water.
[05:25.960] The dogs also have to help pull boats when assisting in a rescue operation.
[05:31.960] The newfound and large skeleton of mussels give them the power to take on difficult swimming conditions.
[05:37.960] Thankfully their jaw can handle the pressure.
[05:40.960] It can exert double the power of a human jaw.
[05:55.960] As the summer season approaches, Zoe will again be helping save dozens of lives in the lakes and seas off the Italian coast.
[06:04.960] As happy in the water as she is on dry land, Zoe's extraordinary talents have transformed Italian life-saving practices.
