GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A surfer rode a wave on his stomach to reach and rescue a struggling dog that had been swept off a Lake Michigan pier by a big wave.

Matt Smolenski, 25, of Grand Haven said he grabbed the pooch's collar just as the exhausted, black-and-brown mixed breed stopped dog-paddling on Tuesday afternoon.

''He put the dog up on his surfboard, and the dog rode the surfboard in to shore,'' Royce Rodgers, an off-duty Muskegon Heights police officer who witnessed the rescue, told The Muskegon Chronicle for a story published Wednesday.

As the dog hung 20, Smolenski held onto the board from the water, fighting large waves and a strong current all the way to shore.

Rodgers, who had started walking his own dog on the pier but turned around after seeing the size of the waves, said he'd often seen the other dog and its owner there.

''I've watched the dog about a million times,'' Smolenski said. ''He barks at the waves and then jumps back when they wash up on the pier.''

The dog was not on a leash when it was washed into the lake. The same wave also knocked the animal's disabled owner off his feet, Rodgers said.

''The dog was trying to swim, but the waves were very large. It was struggling,'' Rodgers said. ''The owner was screaming for the dog.''

The owner quickly thanked Smolenski and gave him a high five. He then ''left so fast, I couldn't get his name,'' Rodgers said.