Last Friday Leonard Fogg ambled down to the Edgartown harbor from the Wharf Pub, led by his beloved eight-year old Bouvier des Flandres, Maui. Mr. Fogg made the same walk four years ago on a gloomy and frigid February evening and it nearly cost him his life.

This time a camera crew awaited Mr. Fogg at the docks as he reenacted the fateful stroll for the Animal Planet’s Dogs 101. Mr. Fogg paused behind a shed on the boathouse dock, the same one that he fell from years ago into icy waters, only to be rescued by Maui and a brigade of big-hearted Wharf regulars.

“Go ahead, Leonard,” shouted producer Chris Marchand.

“Now?” came a shout from behind the shed.

“Yeah, go ahead.” Mr. Fogg emerged from behind the shed leash-in-hand, mumbled some sweet nothings to Maui and paused to study a boat, not unlike the one he leaned against that February night.

“As I did, a gust of wind came from behind me and pushed the boat out,” he said, recalling the traumatic experience. “I was leaning against the top there and down I went.”

The crew of mostly freelance videographers moon-walked with their equipment as Mr. Fogg continued his story.

“Terror went through my body because I had walked around a little bit before and I knew there was just nothing open, nobody around, it was dark and I didn’t see how in the world I’d be saved,” he said. “I had a real bulky jacket on and that just seemed to load me down even more. I came up, I tried grabbing onto the dock and I could barely get my hands on it. Then I went down again and my feet got caught in the mud and that’s when I just knew there was just no chance. Before I went down a third time all of a sudden I felt a hand on the back of my neck and it was Peter and he said ‘I’m here, I’ll help you.’”

dog
Celebrity dog called for help on foggy evening. — Ivy Ashe

While Mr. Fogg was reliving his plunge for the camera crew — a lifeguard from the YMCA would don a wet suit and make the actual jump into the harbor later that evening — construction worker, wharf patron and hero Peter Robb arrived on the harborfront set.

“We’re going to be famous!” Mr. Robb announced to his friend David Morris of Lawrence Heating and Air Conditioning, who had come down to watch the reenactment.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve been on This Old House,” Mr. Morris scoffed.

Mr. Robb claims he did nothing extraordinary the night he saved Mr. Fogg and gives most of the credit to Maui. Nevertheless, he was happy to come down to the harbor and participate in the slightly surreal spectacle.

“I work for William A. Dreyer’s builders and I’m lucky enough that my boss let me go today and I don’t have to drive the cab tonight, so everything’s good,” he said.

Mr. Robb recounted the evening he dragged Mr. Fogg from the water.

“It was like four o’clock. I was just having a couple pops [at the Wharf] on a Sunday afternoon, reading the sports page,” he said. “Then I stepped out to have a smoke and I heard the barking, just this real steady barking every two to three seconds. I came around the corner and there’s a dog just staring at the water,” he said. “I’m looking at the dock and I see this hand sticking up and I was like holy [expletive] there’s a guy in the water. I dragged him all the way down the dock and just gave him a big pull.”

Mr. Robb gathered a group from the Wharf to drag Mr. Fogg, who is a diabetic and was weakened from a recent surgery at the time, to the restaurant where he was given warm clothes.

“Peter speaks two languages — English and dog,” offered Mr. Robb’s friend, a fisherman named Fonzie Simmons as he listened to the story again.

“There are a lot of jokes about it,” said Mr. Robb.

When it came time for Maui to reenact his heroic alarm call, the woolly barrel of an animal played the part like a jaded Hollywood star collecting a check, pausing occasionally to lap water from a dinghy and relieve himself on a street lamp as the camera crew painstakingly documented every step.

After the shoot Mr. Fogg rested on a bench near the dock with Maui at his feet. A pair of well-dressed patrons from the Boathouse, a private club nearby, came down for a closer look.

“We’ve been sitting inside watching this dawg and he is gorgeous,” said the woman with a pronounced Southern drawl.

“This boy saved my life,” Mr. Fogg said, as he shared a knowing look with the Bouvier, before retelling the story one more time.

“Well, we love our dawgs,” said the man. “You’ve earned your stripes, buddy.”