Toddler and family dog fall through the ice on frozen Mission pond: Dog dies

A Mission mother raced to rescue her three-year-old boy this morning after he and the family dog fell through some ice and into freezing water.

Mission RCMP say the little boy had been playing outside his home in a remote area of Mission when he followed the dog, a Doberman puppy, out onto a frozen pond. The ice was not solid enough and the boy and the dog fell through. The mom was able to rescue her son, who had lost consciousness.

The family dog was not as lucky and did not survive.

Rescue crews think the young boy was under water for up to five minutes.

“The mother lost sight of the child for that brief moment, went to find the child and saw the child in the ice,” says Const. Kale Pauls with the Mission RCMP. “Got in there, got the child out, and was instructed by ambulance over the phone what to do. By that point, the ambulance arrived shortly after that.”

BC Ambulance also brought in an air ambulance, and he was airlifted to Children’s Hospital with strong vital signs. He was also breathing on his own.

“BC Paramedics were on scene with the child for quite a long time, basically built a hospital room in the middle of that living room and did an extraordinary job,” says fire chief Larry Watkinson.

The boy is expected to make a full recovery.