WATCH: Firefighter saves bulldog who had fallen into freezing Lake Michigan

The rescue in progress (Source: South Milwaukee Fire Department)
The rescue in progress (Source: South Milwaukee Fire Department)(NBC15)
Published: Feb. 1, 2020 at 1:05 PM CST
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A Wisconsin bulldog is lucky to be alive and well after falling through the ice and spending 10 minutes in freezing Lake Michigan water.

The pup owes his life to the crews of the

, when their quick response on Friday rescued him from the waters.

The 12-year-old English Bulldog’s name is Tuff. His owner says he is doing just fine now after the close call.

The rescue is caught on camera and shows Tuff struggling in the icy waters outside the Milwaukee Tacht Club. You can hear firefighters spot Tuff, as one firefighter makes his way to the gap in the ice.

WATCH THE RESCUE in the video at the top of this article

The firefighter then jumps into the waters and grabs hold of Tuff and lifts him up to safety.

’MUSCLE MEMORY’

"It was just muscle memory," says the firefighter John Rhinesmith,

. "Get the suit on, get zipped up."

Rhinesmith says they were able to act so quickly because he and his team just so happened to train for the same situation in the exact same spot just days before.

Once out of the water, Rhinesmith and Tuff were dragged by rope to shore by the rest of the crew.

"We wrapped him up in a blanket, got him in the ambulance, dried him off and after about 5 or 10 minutes the dog started coming around and regained some activity level," said firefighter Ryan Kurz, TMJ4 reports.

UPDATE: "Built Tuff" t-shirts are now available on-line. Check out our website at https://southmilwaukeecares.com/ to...

Posted by South Milwaukee Fire Department on Friday, January 31, 2020