Boater, Windsurfers Rescue Dog From Drowning In San Francisco Bay

BERKELEY (KPIX 5) - A Berkeley man who helped rescue a drowning puppy Monday is still trying to find out how the dog got in the San Francisco Bay in the first place.

Adam Cohen was on his way home from the Presidio in his motorized inflatable raft when he came across the group of five windsurfers with sails down about two or three miles from shore.

"They were waving and so we went over there and asked, 'Are you guys all right? What's up?' And they said 'We've got a dog.' And I was like, 'what?'"

Cohen pulled the exhausted, shivering dog aboard his raft and took her home to Berkeley. She had a collar, but no tags.

A veterinarian at the Berkeley Dog and Cat Hospital searched for a microchip, but a chip could not be found. She appears to be less than a year old.

Cohen said the dog was found about 3 miles from Berkeley and about a half mile from the shore of Treasure Island. Still, the veterinarian told KPIX 5 that she does not believe she swam that far.

"We don't think she was in the bay for very long," said Katie Corrigan, spokesperson for Berkeley Dog & Cat Hospital. "The water's too cold and she couldn't have swum that far out on her own."

Cohen said it's possible the dog was abandoned or fell out of a boat, but nobody knows because nobody has come forward yet to claim ownership.

The dog, a pure breed Cane Corso, appeared to be recovering Tuesday.

Cohen said he and his wife have named her, "Richard Parker" after the character from the book "The Life of Pi." The couple plans to keep the dog at their home for now.

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