'Hindsight is 20/20': Family warns others after dog falls through ice at Terwillegar dog park

What started as a quick trip to the dog park, has ended in a warning.

An Edmonton family is hoping to raise awareness after their dog disappeared under the ice of the North Saskatchewan river this past weekend.

Cameron Tomlinson and his wife, Jennifer Tomlinson, were at the off leash Terwillegar dog park Sunday with their one-year-old dog, Ada.

The walk started like any other, the couple said, with Ada running and playing with other dogs on her favorite stretch along the riverbank. Then, in an instant, she slipped out of sight.

"The other dog and her went down the hill towards the river, and then the other dog came back," Cameron said. "She didn't come back."

A man nearby saw Ada go down the bank, Cameron said, and went to check after seeing what appeared to be the dog struggling. The panic set in, he added, when the man's partner started to wave him and Jennifer over.

"I sort of picked up my pace. I started kind of jogging and then, when I got to the top of the hill and couldn't see the dog, I started calling and the dog didn't come," Cameron said, adding Ada had excellent recall.

"The fact that she wasn't coming was very scary, so I ran down to the lip to see where the water was and the guy was there looking, and he said that he didn't know where she went."

He didn't want to believe it when he first saw the hole in the ice, he said. So, he searched along the bank downriver for tracks or anything that would suggest Ada had run off.

But there was nothing.

"It (was) a terrible, terrible feeling when I got to the lip and I couldn't see the dog anywhere," he said. "Then I kind of looked a little more carefully at a part of the ice, and you could see that there was signs of sliding, like a long row in the snow, and then there's a hole right there – a dog shaped hole."

Cameron and Jennifer Tomlinson stand near the ice where their one-year-old dog, Ada, disappeared Sunday. (Alison MacKinnon/CTV News Edmonton)While Cameron searched for Ada, Jennifer called for help.

"I didn't know who to call, I didn't know what to do," she said. She wasn't sure if she should call 911, so she dialed 311 instead. They contacted Edmonton Fire Rescue who came out with a few crews and boats to search the river in case Ada had come up somewhere.

"They did their best to look for her and we're really thankful for their efforts," Jennifer said. "But she was gone."

The loss has devastated the family, especially the couple's two children.

"They're both taking it very hard," Cameron said. "They were both very attached to Ada. (She) was just the light of our life."

Wednesday, the couple said they wanted to see the city take steps to hopefully prevent another family from having to go through the same ordeal.

"We really want dog owners to be aware of these dangers," Jennifer said. "You know, hindsight is 20/20. I wouldn't have brought her to this park if I had known the river conditions and how dangerous it was."

Cameron said that relatively simple measures could be put in place to prevent animals from getting trapped under the ice, like signage warning owners and temporary fencing when the river is at its most dangerous in the fall and spring.

"We never would have imagined that something like this could happen and happen so quickly," he said. "All we can do at this point is try to prevent something like this happening ever again."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Alison MacKinnon