Thirty-year-old Alexis Barcellos from Los Banos, central California, drove south to San Diego with her boyfriend Brandon, brother and mother in late November, taking her female dog Sadie with her.
On Sunday, November 23rd, Alexis and Brandon went to a restaurant to watch a football game while the other half of the group went to their accommodation. But when they opened the door, Sadie ran out of the room and stormed away.
Luckily, she had an AirTag tracking device on her collar, and they soon found out that she was on Ocean Beach. But when they got there, they learned that the female had been swept away by the waves and was being carried away from the shore by a strong current. Local surfers explained that they noticed her struggling to keep her head above water in the waves and tried to pull her onto the jetty, but Sadie was frightened and jumped back into the water.
In addition to the local lifeguards who were watching the sea from the shore, two rescue boats also arrived on the scene and a coast guard vessel, which coincidentally happened to be nearby, also got involved, the website reported The Washington Post.
Airtag to the Rescue: Lifeguards save dog from the ocean
Meet Sadie, the adventurous pup who took an unexpected swim off the San Diego coast! Swept away by a rip current, her story of survival is nothing short of miraculous. pic.twitter.com/EghlsuSzBS
— Deseret News (@Deseret) December 5, 2025
However, the search was complicated by the sun, which in the afternoon was already on the western side of the sky, creating unpleasant reflections on the waves. Therefore, the rescuers had to go as far west as possible so that they could search the sea with the sun at their backs.
But after forty minutes or so, there was still no sign of Sadie. After another ten minutes, the emergency commander was about to call off his men and began carefully explaining this to Alexis and Brandon, who were already slowly losing hope, when the radio rang. “Hey, we found her! We got her and she’s safe,” one of the search boats reported that the female was found more than a kilometer from shore.
And it was almost at the last minute, because Sadie was already very exhausted and agitated after such a long time in the water. However, she was well looked after on the boat as the rescuers wrapped her in a blanket and she was quickly on the shore for a veterinary examination. It found only injuries of a minor nature, particularly on the paws that Sadie had torn as she tried to claw her way up the pier.
For about a week, she indulged herself in a rest mode “in bed”. And she also had a great partner, the red-haired cat Hazy, who was very willing to lie down with her. But today, Sadie and Alexis and Brandon are going on their favorite long walks again.
