West Milford firefighters rescued a German Shepherd from an icy lake Jan. 15, 2016, officials said. (Photo: John Franzino)

-- Township firefighters rescued a 6-month-old German Shepherd that fell into an icy lake Friday morning.

West Milford Fire Company 4 Deputy Chief Darren Williams and Captain Jeff Boltzer, wearing ice rescue suits, traveled on the ice and reached the puppy, which was about 75 yards from the shoreline on Lindy's Lake, fire officials said.

The scared dog tried to attack the firefighters, officials said.

"Both the rescuers did not give up and removed the dog from the water, and the puppy was reunited with its human," according to Chief Chris Page of West Milford Fire Company 4.

Video posted on YouTube shows the animal apparently frantically paddling in the frigid water and going under the surface.

After getting out of the water, the dog appears to at first have trouble using its back legs before running around the ice-covered lake.

Officials said town fire companies 1, 4 and 6 responded to the call around 8:10 a.m., along with West Milford police.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.