Two women who were walking their dogs near Connecticut’s Shady Beach on Sunday were electrocuted and one of their dogs was killed when the animal stepped into a pool of electrified water.

Deputy Fire Chief Gino Gatto said police and fire officials responded to a report of an electrocuted dog and two injured females.

Firefighters spoke with the dog’s owner who said that she and her sister were walking near the bathhouses in a flooded area by Shady Beach when they felt the “tingling” of an electric shock.

The women, who appeared to be in their early-20s, were walking a few feet behind their unleashed dog and their mother was walking a leashed dog further behind.

The two young women were jolted when the unleashed animal stepped onto a telephone wire which was hidden under a puddle of standing water.

“That dog might have saved those girl’s lives by taking the brunt of the shock for them,” Gatto said. “They were probably just a couple of steps from being killed.”

The two women were treated at the scene by emergency medical personnel and released. The dog was wrapped in a towel and handed to the owners, who requested its remains.

Story by Elaine Furst for Dog Files