IT must have been the scariest doggy paddle of his life. But Bailey the Labrador proved he was far from wet behind the ears when strong currents dragged him a mile-and-a-half off out to sea.

The salty sea dog had gone for an afternoon dip off the beach at Milford-on-Sea when he got in to difficulties. Before long the tide had pulled him so far out that he had almost reached the Isle of Wight.

His desperate owner Laura Williams watched helplessly as the paddling pooch lost his bearings and headed out to sea.

As the drama unfolded, a large crowd gathered on the beach and along the cliff top to help track his movements and a lifeboat crew was called.

But luckily three-year-old Bailey started to drift back down the coast towards shore.

After an hour in the freezing cold, the exhausted mutt was dragged to safety back on to the mainland.

Laura, 24, said: “I thought I would not see him again and I was very upset. You could see he was panicking because he was just swimming in circles and heading further and further out.

“At one point you could see that he couldn’t work out whether to paddle to the Isle of Wight or the mainland.”

Onlookers used binoculars to keep an eye on the hapless hound as he drifted up and down Christchurch Bay near the western entrance to the Solent on Wednesday.

“The people on the shoreline with me were so lovely and supportive because I was distraught at the time,” said Laura, who lives in New Milton. “They all waited there until the end and when they saw that he was OK, some people were crying just as much as I was.

“Bailey is fine now, but he was very tired because he has bad hips. He had hypothermia and was also suffering from dehydration. He’s a very good swimmer, but he just went out too far – he’s lucky to be alive.”

A spokesman for RNLI Mude-ford added: “Although the dog had gone ashore by the time we got there, we are still pleased that it was a happy ending.”