ohmidog!

A California man who tried to rescue his dog from crashing 12-foot-high waves drowned when he was pulled more than a half-mile out to sea at  Point Reyes National Seashore on New Year’s day.

Charles Quaid, 59, was walking along the beach with his wife when a large wave swept his dog into the ocean.

Quaid’s wife was also swept into the ocean at one point, but she was rescued by bystanders, and the dog managed to get back to shore on its own.

Quaid’s body was recovered in the ocean four hours later, after a search by helicopters and rescue teams from the fire department, U.S. Coast Guard, and National Park Service, according to ABC.

Quaid, who lived in Richmond, was described by his co-workers at a health care consulting firm as “a wonderful man” who “believed very passionately in everyone’s right to have equal access to health care.”

“He had a sense of our appreciation for what we’re doing here,” David Lansky, chief executive officer of Pacific Business Group on Health, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “One of his employees said this morning that he’d never in 30 years had a boss who he’d respected as much … He was honest and earnest and had integrity first and foremost.”

Quaid’s wife and dog were not injured.

The rough surf off the northern California coast claimed three other lives in November when a teenager and his mother and father were swept out to sea trying to rescue their family dog near Big Lagoon. An older daughter and the family dog survived.

Sims Wyeth — intrigued by the prospect of a shelter dog moving into the White House — has penned a song called, simply enough, “First Dog Song.”

An excerpt:

“Now I’m in the shelter, sleeping on cement.
One day I’m gonna wake up in the house of the president.”

Wyeth is a former actor and educator who founded his own public speaking consultant company, Sims Wyeth & Co., in 1995.

He sent us email this week, notifying us he had posted his song on YouTube.

Wyeth is the owner of a one-year-old standard Poodle named Little Bear, who can be seen at the beginning and end of the video. His song is dedicated to his first dog, Roscoe.