Fishing crew rescues 38 dogs treading water in lake

GRENADA, Miss. (WMC/Gray News) - A fishing crew in Mississippi went out to catch fish, but came back with dozens of dogs instead.

Bob Gist, of Arkansas, and his friend Brad Carlisle, of Tennessee, decided to meet up in Memphis and travel down to Grenada Lake for a quick fishing trip.

The two met up with local fishing guide Jordan Chrestman and started what turned out to be a very adventurous day.

Gist said they hadn’t been on the lake very long when they noticed something in the water. It turned out to be dogs, a lot of dogs.

As they got closer, Gist said they discovered dozens of hound dogs, all wearing expensive radio collars and white paint, and all treading water.

The dogs were at least a half mile offshore, and Gist said he could tell by the way their heads looked in the water that they couldn’t see the shore and seemed to be lost.

Chrestman pulled the boat up to each dog, and Gist and Carlisle loaded them one at a time into the boat.

Gist said they loaded 27 dogs into the boat for the first load and took them to shore. They then went back and rescued 11 more.

A total of 38 dogs were rescued.

Gist found out the dogs were a part of a fox hunt that day in Grenada and had continued to chase a deer that went into the lake.

Gist said he didn’t know any of the dog owners and none of the owners had a boat to rescue their dogs.

According to Gist, the dogs may have all died if he and his friends hadn’t come along. He said he believed the dogs had been treading water for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

Gist said the dog owners tried to give the fishing crew money for saving their dogs, but they turned it down.

They said they just happened to be in the right place at the right time and did what they had to do to jump into rescue mode.

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