Man, dog rescued after falling through ice on Wellesley lake

First responders pulled a man and his dog from a lake in Wellesley on Sunday after the pair fell through the ice — a chilly rescue mission that was caught on video. 

Authorities received a 911 call about a dog that fell through the ice at Lake Waban at 4:44 p.m. Sunday, according to Wellesley police. The dog’s owner also fell in while trying to save his pet, and “both human and dog were well offshore and unable to make it back,” police said. 

The Wellesley Fire Department saved both man and dog, and a Wellesley police drone filmed the rescue. The owner was taken by ambulance to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and police brought his dog, Tommy, to a local veterinary clinic to be treated for hypothermia, police said. 

The man who fell through the ice, Ed Berger, told WBZ that Tommy — an 8-year-old cockapoo — ran off after seeing some birds, only to fall through the ice. According to the news outlet, Berger grabbed a boat from nearby Wellesley College and took off after his dog, but the boat tipped over. 

Thanks to Wellesley’s first responders, Berger and Tommy made it home safe. 

“It was definitely a pretty traumatic experience,” Berger told WBZ. “I think anybody who owns a pet would do the same thing, I just knew I had to do something.”