Man jumps into freezing Charles River to rescue his dog: ‘I actually thought I was going to drown’

A Boston man says he's lucky to be alive after jumping into the Charles River to save his dog in a rescue effort that was caught on camera. (WBZ via CNN Newsource)

BOSTON (WBZ) -- A Boston man says he’s lucky to be alive after jumping into the Charles River to save his dog in a rescue effort that was caught on camera.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life and humbled. I actually thought I was going to drown,” Hans Nagrath told WBZ-TV.

The real estate agent was out for a run on Marathon Monday with his 2-year-old goldendoodle Benny.

“We’ve had him for two years,” Nagrath said. “He’s definitely like a son to us.”

Benny, who was off-leash at the time, suddenly took off after two geese and dove into the water to chase them.

“I kept calling, ‘Benny, come back! Benny, come back!’” Nagrath recalled. “Couldn’t even hear me, didn’t turn around.”

Panicked, Nagrath ran around looking for possible rescue solutions.

“I was just picturing Benny drowning, and I just didn’t think,” he said.

Nagrath decided he had to go in.

“And then after maybe a few minutes of swimming, the wind got knocked out of me. I couldn’t really like breathe properly it was so cold,” he said. “I was about 10 feet from Benny when I was like, ‘Oh God, I can’t move my arms and I don’t know what’s going to happen.’”

Nagrath said he didn’t have enough energy to grab Benny, but he was able to get the dog in front of him and push up Benny’s hind legs whenever he started to sink.

“And then we finally got to the pier. I was screaming for help,” Nagrath said. “Someone helped get Benny up and then helped me up.”

Onlookers at the river gave Benny a Boston Marathon blanket to help warm him up. Both dog and human were OK despite the 40-degree temperature of the river.

Nagrath was replaying the scary moments in his head even after he got to shore. He says he wishes he had asked someone to find a flotation device or call 911 before he jumped in.

“There was a point though where I was like, ‘I need help here.’ I was looking around, there was no boats or anything,” he said.

The frightening ordeal doesn’t seem to have made much of an impact on Benny, however.

“On the walk home, he was still ready to chase after geese,” Nagrath said. “And I was like no, this is not happening.”

By Courtney Cole.