EUSTIS — A Stratton man training his dogs drowned Wednesday in Flagstaff Lake.

Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service said Leo Pepin, 81, was training hunting dogs on the shoreline off Flagstaff Road shortly after 3 p.m. 

“He entered the water swimming to retrieve a piece of dog training equipment and went under,” MacDonald said in a release.

Pepin’s wife, Lucille Pepin, was with her husband and watched him go under. When he failed to surface, Lucille Pepin went to get help from a neighbor.

“Mr. Pepin’s body was retrieved in about 10 to 15 feet of water by Eustis firefighters and Game Warden Scott Stevens,” MacDonald said.