Not every dog can be a lifeguard though. Dogs, and their owners, have to go through about two years of training first.
One of the dogs at the beach in Italy was named Mya. She trained at a special school with her owner, Michele (mee-KEH-leh). At first, Michele wasn’t sure if he and Mya would make a good lifeguard team. They had a lot to learn!
How did Mya and Michele start their training? By playing games! The pair spent hours playing fetch and tug-of-war. Mya had a lot of fun. She didn’t realize that she was training for emergencies. Soon, she would be fetching people instead of toys!
The next part of training was in a pool. Mya and Michele practiced swimming in calm water, and Mya got used to wearing her life jacket.
Finally, they were ready for the last step: training in the sea. Michele and Mya swam in all types of weather. They learned to work together in stressful situations. Mya even learned to leap off a speeding boat!
After about two years, Mya and Michele were officially a lifeguard team. There are more than 350 lifeguard dogs in Italy. Mya was now one of them! Each year, these dogs save about 25 lives.
