BOTCH, PANNA AND TOBIA: NOW IT’S YOUR TURN TO BE PAMPERED! 🐾
After working alongside their handlers to help keep people safe in the water, three rescue dogs are retiring. A story of teamwork, trust and care.
Some thank-yous deserve a very long cuddle. This one is for Botch, Panna and Tobia: three rescue dogs, three names, working lives spent alongside the people who help keep others safe in the water. Now they are leaving service and beginning a well-earned rest.
Lifeanimal reported their retirement on 13 October, bringing the bond between these dogs and their handlers into focus. A rescue team is built together, through training, trust and mutual attention.
Botch: courage is learnt together
Botch is an eight-year-old golden retriever. One of his remembered rescues took place on 1 July 2021 at Riva dei Tarquini: alongside his handler, he helped bring a nine-year-old girl and her father back to shore in rough seas and a rip current.
That episode gives us a glimpse of this cooperation’s value. When we celebrate a brave dog, it is worth remembering the person working beside them too. This is no fairy tale where everything happens by magic: behind a rescue is a relationship built over time.
Panna: two rescues to remember
Panna, a ten-year-old Labrador, is remembered for helping a child at Riva dei Tarquini in 2020. The wind had carried the child’s inflatable dinghy out to sea and overturned it. In August 2025, Panna took part in another rescue with Maia: a 59-year-old man had been swept away from the shore by the current.
These are different stories, connected by something simple and enormous: someone was in danger and a team came to help. A happy ending, when it comes, deserves gratitude and respect for those who made it possible.
Tobia: helping people connect
Tobia is also a ten-year-old Labrador. His work includes many events and demonstrations by the Italian School of Water Rescue Dogs in cooperation with the Coast Guard. These introduce people to canine rescue teams and promote respect for animals.
Retirement is another part of caring
Leaving service does not erase the value of what has been done. Instead, it invites us to look at the animal’s needs. Rest, wellbeing and a routine suited to this new stage of life are part of our responsibility towards those we love.
The work of these three dogs moves us. They do not have to keep proving anything to deserve affection. Even when the harness is put away, the bond remains.
A thought from CHIARA!
St Francis inspires a sense of kinship with creation. We can bring that outlook here too: gratitude for these working companions and the care we owe them. Thank you, Botch, Panna and Tobia. We wish you peaceful days and plenty of attention, just as we would for a much-loved family friend.
