A dog, who may have been barking up the wrong tree, has been rescued from the middle of the ocean.
The New Zealand Navy patrol vessel HMNZS Hawea rescued the distressed pooch while on a Customs operation yesterday to Great Barrier Island.
The dog was spotted floating on a log, having been washed out to sea during a storm on Tuesday.
As the boat was coming in to the bay to anchor, officer Filipe Latu spotted the dog perched on a log and went straight to the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Anthony Norris. with a plea to go to the rescue.
The dog was spotted by chance
Lieutenant Norris said it was an unusual and unexpected sight.
"There was significant debris in the water and on one large log floating in the water was this poor helpless dog. I would hate to think how long he was there" he said.
One of the ship's lifeboats was deployed with four crew to rescue the dog who was taken ashore, where the sailors found a friendly face who knew the dog's owners.
After handing over the dog, the sailors then spent further time removing the debris from the water.
