Stranger rescues woman's dog from drowning at Pleasure Point

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KGO) -- A stranger helped save a woman's dog in Santa Cruz as it nearly drowned in rough waves.

Our media partner The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports Clayton Knipe saved Magnolia, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever after she tried following her owner, Heather Swallow, into the waves at Pleasure Point.

The waves swept the dog out into a cove and Swallow began screaming for help.

"She got stuck in a cove and kept getting hit by wave after wave after wave," Swallow recalled. "I was frantic and I knew she was going to drown."

Knipe was passing by on his bike and stopped when he heard Swallow screaming. Then, he slid down the steep cliff side and dove in.

He was able to shove the dog onto the rocks and then pulled himself free at another cove.

The only reward he would accept was a cup of hot tea.