Jack, the one-and-a-half year old white purebred German shepherd who was found floating in the middle of the Fraser River last week, was claimed by its owner.
Tuesday, a RAPS employee told the News a Vancouver woman had a joyful reunion with an equally happy dog.
The dog owner told them Jack had been missing for three weeks.
Bela Vigh, manager at Skyline Marina, along with employee Austin Holland, first spotted the dog a distance away and quickly grabbed a dinghy and rescued the dog near the BCIT campus.
At first we thought it was a log or a bird, but then we grabbed some binoculars and saw two ears poking out of the water, said Vigh. When we finally got to him, he was completely confused and scared.
The two men had a hard time getting Jack into the skiff but finally managed to get him in.
He was shivering and looked exhausted, he added. His face was caked in mud so we washed him up and bought him some dog food.
The two rescuers then called the Richmond Animal Protection Society (RAPS).
It appears the current was quite strong at the time, said RAPS animal control officer, Shane Burnham.
Last week, Burnham told the News Jack was quite thin but didnt appear to have been neglected. He had no identification tags or tattoo, but did have a microchip.
The staff finally tracked down the company the chip was from but unfortunately, no information was in the data base about the dogs owner, said Burnham.
If dog owners dont keep the information up to date, the microchip is useless.
RAPS still dont know how Jack wound up in the water. Despite his ordeal, RAPS said Jack was pretty happy, although he was a little skittish and stand offish.
