This summer, for the first time ever, water rescue dogs trained in Italy are being deployed on Lake Lugano, in southern Switzerland, to prevent swimming accidents.
The pilot project is being implemented during the weekends in July and August to make sure bathers in Lugano do not drown. The initiative of Patrick Tempobono, President of the Lugano Life Saving Society, and the city of Lugano is also a response to the high number of fatal swimming accidents recorded in Switzerland every year: in 2023 around 20 people have already lost their lives swimming.
The dogs wear special life jackets that allow them to get up to three people out of the water at the same time. They also perform warm-up exercises by the most popular bathing spots in Lugano, attracting the attention of the bathers. This way, the members of the Life Saving Society can raise awareness on the dangers of swimming.
Not only do they prevent accidents, but they can also save lives in case of an emergency. So far, there is no official training facility in the country. The dogs are trained in Milan by the Italian School for rescue dogs and are now deployed on many Italian beaches. The founder of the school, Ferruccio Pilenga, explains that dogs and their owners have to go through several months of intensive training before they are ready for action.
So, people in Lugano are already thinking ahead and want to further implement this project. “Our goal is to set up our own training centre for water dogs next year,” says Patrick Tempobono.
This would allow authorities to better tackle the danger of drowning in rivers and lakes. “In Lugano, fortunately, we had no fatalities in water last year or this year,” says city councillor Tiziano Galeazzi. But he also explains that the number of fatalities has increased in recent years, especially among “people who cannot swim or who come from outside of canton Ticino and are not familiar with the local waters.”
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