Scarborough Beach State Park welcomed its newest lifeguard on Tuesday.
Buoy, who is 11 months old, is the second trained Newfoundland dog working on the beach as a second responder.
The dogs are specially trained to go into the water after a lifeguard, then pull in the guard and victim.
Park Manager Greg Wilfert said they bring another layer of protection to swimmers, as well as some furry fun.
“And the people respect them,” Wilfert said. “They come up and ask if they can pat them and we let them, and they’re very affectionate dogs,”
“Especially little kids, we didn’t have little kids come up to the stand before, so I think it’s really helped public safety, as well,” lifeguard Carter Chen said.
Buoy and Beacon, the other Newfie, train every day with Scarborough lifeguards and are currently the only ocean guard dogs in the United States.
Wilfert hopes these two will help to expand the practice of second responders.
