A usually playful pup wasn't up to his usual tricks on Friday night, after pulling a stunt that had his owners worried sick.
"He's my best friend. I'm a single guy, don't have kids yet, so all my time I can, I spend it with him. We go running - just a routine we have every day," the dog's owner, Migel Vazquez said.
But Thursday morning, the family dog - a year-and-a-half-old white German Shepherd named Chase broke that routine - running away, something he'd never done before.
Migel and his brother Francisco think the dog got spooked by storms the night before, squeezing through a fence before taking off.
"It was really, really empty, because the dog is always waiting for us at the door," Francisco said.
The family posted about the missing pup on Facebook, and hours later they got a call that the New York Police Department had discovered the dog in Gravesend Bay, a few kilometres from their Brooklyn home.
The family says when officers spotted the dog, he was in the water, a nearly a kilometre from land, struggling to stay afloat.
"He was tired, had trouble keeping his head up," Migel said.
The family has no idea how Chase made it so many miles - but they're thanking the power of social media and the NYPD for a reunion they'll always remember.
And now that Chase is back in the arms of his best friends, Migel hopes his dog's next adventure keeps him closer to home.
CBS News
