On July 29, Christine Miller was enjoying the day at the Southbury Dog Park with her recently adopted pit bull, Sky. Sky is a three-year-old, active, loving pit bull that had only been with the Miller family for about a month. Miller described Sky as being “a maniac in the water. She just loves water.”

Miller explained that Sky had been swimming in the river at the dog park and a trio was there with two smaller dogs. Sky is a larger pit bull, about 70 pounds, and Miller described the other two dogs as “not 30 pounds each.”

The trio had the female dog on leash as they didn’t know the dog well. They had recently adopted the dog, just like Miller did with Sky. Miller said, “Their male dog was swimming for a little while … the woman was down at the bottom where the dogs are, and one of the guys said to her, ‘let the female dog off the leash. Just let her be a dog.’ And she let her off the leash and the dog went right out into the water swimming.”

Miller continued, “It became apparent, pretty quickly, that the dog was not doing well.” She described the event as scary because the current in the river was strong.

“There were two young guys,” Miller explained. “One of them actually jumped into the water … with all his clothes on … he couldn’t get there. The girl was on the edge of the water, and she was just screaming and upset. And then I hear, ‘Your dog is helping!’”

Miller said she looked over the cliff into the river and saw Sky with the other dog. “She had it by the collar. I never saw anything like this … she dragged it all the way to the girl on the side.”

As Miller explained the story, she noted that Sky doesn’t retrieve items thrown to her; rather, she takes sticks thrown to her in the water and piles them up rather than give them back to Miller.

“I couldn’t believe she just did that,” Miller remarked.

Miller said she didn’t think to pull out her phone to take a picture or video because the event was so intense.

The trio with the rescued dog said their thanks to Miller and Sky, but left shortly after the incident, as did Miller.

Sky is a rescue dog that came from North Carolina, a state with high-kill shelters throughout. Thanks to the Miller family, Sky was given a second chance, and it is clear she is spreading that love to other dogs.

“A lot of times this breed gets a really bad rap, and she’s sweet with people and dogs. She’s big and she can be really hyper, but she’s super loving to everyone,” Miller said.

Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.