Upon arriving in Coupeville after a ferry trip across Admiralty Inlet, an overly eager visitor couldn’t wait to set foot on Whidbey Island.

So he jumped out of a car window.

If Rusty the Cocker Spaniel mix had been able to contain his excitement, he might’ve avoided running free into the great outdoors and getting stuck in the mud at Crockett Lake Saturday.

He also would’ve avoided a stranger wearing red Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue gear saving him and later giving him a bath.

But Rusty took flight from the moving car, ran wild into the grass and into the shallow, murky lake where he got stuck, leading to the strange rescue call.

“That was not one of his better days,” said Jerry Helm, a captain at Central Whidbey Fire.

Rusty belonged to a family from Bremerton, which had just departed the ferry when the misadventure started.

Helm, who lives nearby, was the first to respond to the incident, which got a little more hairy when rescue attempts by the dog’s owner and a bystander almost got them stuck in the mud, too.

A fire engine and brush rig arrived on the scene with firefighter James Meek sent in to rescue Rusty, who was about 30 feet from the bank.

Meek crawled on top of the mud with a safety rope attached to him to get to the dog.

“The water was only about 6 inches deep,” Helm said. “As long as you’re crawling, you’re fine. But as soon as you stood up, you’d probably sink to your knees.”

Helm couldn’t recall another animal rescue from Crockett Lake but said that duck hunters have been known to get stuck in the mud from time to time.

In fact, it happened to Meek, a story that Helm remembered before he sent him out to do the dirty work.

“I know Jimmy Meek was up to his chest in mud and had to dig himself out with a shot gun,” Helm said.

Helm said that the mud in the lake can be a hazard but added that most hunters seem to be aware of the danger.

Rusty, who might’ve spotted a Canada Goose, shared no such insight and paid the price.

“Rusty got a bath under the discharge of a fire truck,” Helm said. “Then we gave him to his owners and he went on his way.”

With the windows rolled up, of course.