What would you do if you saw a dog struggling to stay afloat in the water? For one garbageman in Mexico, the answer was simple, you stop and you help them out.

The dog was grateful for his rescuer’s help and thanked him in the sweetest way.

A dog in trouble

The two garbage collectors were out making their rounds when one of them noticed something in the water of a canal. At first, they couldn’t make out what it was, but as they got closer, one of the men, named Said Zarate, realized it was a dog. Worst of all, the dog was struggling to keep his head above water.

“I saw something moving in the water,” Zarate told The Dodo. “I kept looking until I could identify that it was a dog. I told my partner to stop.”

Running to the rescue

Zarate grabbed an empty sack as he jumped out of the garbage truck and ran to the canal’s edge. He got down close to the water and held the sack out for the dog to grab onto. He planned to then pull him to the edge and help him get out.

The dog, already exhausted, was unable to get ahold of the sack.

Getting the dog out of the water

Zarate quickly came up with another plan. As soon as the dog was close enough to the edge of the canal, he reached out and grabbed it by the leg. Pulling the dog over, he then helped it get out of the water.

The dog was safe, all thanks to Zarate’s quick thinking. But their interaction was not over yet.

The dog showed his gratitude

As Zarate sat there, the dog walked over and hugged him. The dog showed Zarate gratitude with the only way he knew how. The moment was short-lived, as the dog soon left and Zarate and his coworker continued their day.

“He leapt into my arms,” Zarate said. “I’m sure he has good owners. He must just have had an accident. After staying with us for a moment, he ran off cheerfully back home.”

A surprising thank you from the dog’s owner

Zarate shared the video on the Internet where it ended up going viral. On YouTube, the video has gotten over 350,000 views.

After sharing the video of the rescue online, Zarate got another surprising thank you. It seemed the dog’s owner, who lived nearby, saw the clip, and thanked Zarate for saving his dog. This story just goes to show that you don’t have to be a firefighter or other rescue personnel to save someone. All you need is the heart to do what needs to be done in the moment.

You can watch the rescue and the dog’s sweet thank you at the end, in the video below.

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Source: Stephen Messenger

H/T: The Dodo, YouTube/Stephen Messenger