There are all kinds of dogs in the world: water dogs, service dogs, boat dogs. And if you are in Italy, there is an emergence of lifeguard dogs. The Italian Coast Guard uses dogs as rescue swimmers and Italy is the only country in the world to certify dogs as lifeguards. Before you laugh at the idea of dogs as lifeguards, it is worth noting that the 300 dogs serving Italian beaches and lakes are credited with saving around 3,000 lives a year.
The dogs are trained at the Italian School of Water Rescue Dogs. They go through extensive training and work side-by-side with rescue swimmers (of the human variety). The most advanced dogs train by jumping out of moving speedboats and helicopters. These are some serious badass doggos.
Check out this video from Great Big Story on Italian lifeguard dogs.
