Police Use Boogie Board To Rescue Dog From Muddy S.I. Marshland

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It really was a "ruff" rescue on Staten Island on Thursday for a wayward pooch who ended up trapped in a marsh.

Police rescuers with special gear attacked both ground and water to get the frightened, young German Shepherd out of a muddy, tangled mass of marshland and silt.

The result delighted the dog's 11-year-old owner, Amad Awada.

"I thought he was going to drown," Awada told CBS 2's John Slattery.

The the boy and his family live just two doors from a Midland Beach marshland that was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

While the boy was at school, his uncle took the dog, named "Mikey," for a walk, but the canine, whom the family got from New Jersey just Wednesday, bolted.

"He didn't know that this is not New Jersey, this is Staten Island, and that what we have here is the swamps," said Awada's father, Mohammad.

When the dog got trapped, 911 was called. Police called emergency services and officers in dry suits went in, with Sgt. John Jacobi directing them.

"Probably only four, five feet deep the water, but about another six to eight feet of silt. You sink in, so you can't really walk across it to the other side," he said. "We have an over-sized boogie board that attaches to the back of our jet ski and use that."

There were tense moments when the dog looked like he didn't want to have any part of it.

"He didn't want to get back in the water at first because he'd already been through it once and probably didn't like the silt that he was sinking into. But a little convincing, he was able to come back across," Jacobi said.

After some food and water and a bath in the basement, "Mikey" had a new lease on life and another example that ESU helps both man and beast.

Family members assured police they will make sure the dog is on a leash when taken out in the future.

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