Gator-Wrestling Boyfriend Saves Dog

Brent Carey is still reliving the horror. What started as a relaxing day at the park with his girlfriend Jessica Turner and her dog Chance ended in a battle against a ten foot alligator.

As Erin Colgan of CBS affiliate WCSC reports for The Early Show, the local man saved his girlfriend's dog from the jaws of the alligator.

"I didn't even think, and that's what scares me the most ... I just reacted," said Carey.

Turner says the full grown gator grabbed Chance while he was in the water swimming and started dragging him away.

"I could almost grab him," Turner said. "So I thought I'm going to die right now, and Chance is probably already dead."

That's when her boyfriend sprang into action. He ran off the bank and jumped in the water. "I just grabbed a hold of something," he said. "The first thing I could grab a hold of."

Carey grabbed the gator's back legs, causing it to release Chance from its jaws. The alligator kept fighting, and Carey's got the marks on his arms and legs to prove it.

"We rolled over," he said. "Once we had gone under the water once, I started to kind of settle in like I had a hold — the sheer girth of this thing, it's just so strong."

After rolling over a second time, Carey let go. "All of a sudden it was calm," he said. He grabbed Chance by the collar and dragged him back to the shoreline.

When he turned back around he saw that the alligator was following close behind. Both Chance and Carey managed to get away with only minor injuries.

The Department of Natural Resources shot and killed the gator shortly after the incident.

"They informed me that I should not jump on the back of alligators," Carey said. "I agree with that — the take home message is not to jump on the back of a gator."

Experts say in alligator country you should keep your dog especially small dogs, away from the water's edge.