Sudden rain apparently caught two dogs by surprise in Niu Valley on Monday.

The dogs were swimming, stuck in a swollen stream near a KFC restaurant, when brothers David and Charlie Moffat of Hawaii Kai rescued them.

The 1 p.m. rescue took about half an hour because the skittish dogs swam away from their would-be rescuers and had to be coaxed back, Charlie Moffat said.

He said the rain had subsided and the stream was moving slowly when they rescued the dogs.

Charlie Moffat, who has several dogs, said he was happy to get to the pair before they might have been dragged into a culvert beneath Kalanianaole Highway.

The dogs were taken to the Hawaiian Humane Society. Moffat said the dogs had embedded computer chips that will help find their owners.