Nebraska Man Uses Air Force Training To Revive Drowned Best Friend 

Lucy was drowning. The 10-month-old English bulldog had been drawn into the lake by resident ducks and Canada geese, and the icy water was paralyzing her.

When owner Randy Gurchin edged onto the ice and pulled Lucy from the water, she was unresponsive. Her face and paws were blue.

Mouth-To-Snout Resuscitation Saves Dog

So he did what he had been trained by the Air Force to do: mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

He closed her mouth, put his mouth over her nose, breathed air into her nostrils and down into her lungs and pushed on her chest.

Lucy began shallow breaths on her own after about a minute, he said.

He drove her to a veterinary clinic, where she was immersed in warm water, given several injections and placed in an oxygen tent.

She survived her ordeal last week and is back to normal, Gurchin said Friday.

A woman who answered the phone Saturday at the Ralston Veterinary Clinic said no one there would comment.

Gurchin, 51, who flew missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, retired from the Air Force with a back injury in 2005.

Lucy had never ventured into the lake behind their house before, he said. The lake is the centerpiece of the Hawaiian Village development his family lives in, just north of the Platte River in Sarpy County.

He and the dog he rescued are "best buddies," Gurchin said.

"Once you get a pet, it's truly part of your family," he said. "You just tend to do whatever it takes to save their life."