Our Hero: The Stray Who Kept a Lost Little Girl Warm on a Frozen Night

The child was known as "best friend" to the dog.

A few days ago we told you about the Pit Bull who protected a 3-year-old who had wandered into the woods near his home. The two were lost for an hour. 

Last weekend, a similar thing happened, in much more hazardous circumstances, for a much longer time. 

In the town of Pierzwin, Poland, a 3-year-old girl, Julia, wandered away from her home and vanished into a nearby forest. Her grandmother had last seen her playing in the backyard of her house with a stray dog, who was friendly with the family, according to the Daily Mail. 

The black mongrel is named Czarue.

Night fell. The pair were in an area described as "freezing marshland." The rescue operation quickly escalated, with more than 200 people scouring the countryside. The temperature dropped to minus five degrees. 

They searched all night and found nothing. It was not until early the next morning that they finally came across the pair, soaking wet, the dog and the girl huddled together, the girl crying for her mother. 

Czarue, the stray dog, had kept the girl warm all night. 

"We ran around 500 metres, and there was silence," said Grzegorz Szymonowski, a firefighter. "We stood to listen further and we heard the dog and later the crying of a child. We went in the direction and saw the child lying in the shrubs. She was wet because there was water in the forest."

"This dog is the most important part of this story; he is a hero. It is thanks to this dog that the girl survived the night."

Julia was transported to the hospital, where the head of the pediatric ward, Kazimiera Barczyk, said the girl suffered from frostbite but was otherwise fine. 

"The only unusual symptoms are swollen hands and feet, probably from the frost. A surgeon inspected this and prescribed ointments. The next few days will show if there is some deeper frostbite, or just surface changes," Barczyk said.

The doctor added, "This dog, which was with her, most probably kept her warm. It lay down next to her when she fell asleep. She was walking and walking, and fell asleep when she got tired."

What makes this story even more heartwarming is that the girl had befriended the stray dog earlier.  

Her grandmother said Czarue was the girl's best friend: "She was with this dog all the time. She didn't go anywhere without it.

"When I was looking after her, she constantly said, 'Granny, the dog needs to come in the house.' And she told me to cut bread, and she fed it all the time."

Via the Daily Mail; photo via Shutterstock

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Frozen chicken treats are perfect right now

Most of the country is baking hot right now; other than perhaps Seattle. As my dogs were flat on the tile floor in front of the fans today I decided to make one of their favorite hot weather treats.

You’ll need a muffin tin, to hold either six or twelve muffins. You will also need some paper liners, some shredded cooked chicken, and water.  Place a paper liner in each hole of the muffin tin. Divide the chicken into six or twelve portions and place it in the liners. (I’m not giving you any set amount because it doesn’t really matter as long as there is some for each treat.) Then cover the chicken with water and place the muffin tin in the freezer.

When the treats are frozen, pop them out of the muffin tin, peel off the paper and give them to your dog. I give them outside because they can be messy.

To make a variation of this treat, I have often added bits of grated carrot, apple slices, or blueberries. A word of warning, though, if you add blueberries the treats will really be messy so be prepared.

I always make these with chicken because I cook it a lot for me and there are usually leftovers. However I don’t see any reason why you can’t use other meats.

Now Xena, the Warrior Cat also likes these treats so I have use a miniature muffin tin for her. Although she likes chicken and often tries to swipe some of the dogs’ treats, when I make hers I often use a little tuna. I don’t give it to her for meals so it’s a special treat when she gets some.

Top: Ready for the freezer.

Bottom: Riker enjoying his treat.

Photos by Liz Palika

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BIG Bus Tour: Frozen moment on a fast-moving trip

We’re heading to the halfway point of our 29-city “Healthy Pets Visit Vets” tour for “Your Dog: The Owner’s Manual.” We started in Houston the last week of April and now, the cities are starting to blur just a little bit. Is today Wednesday? Is this Detroit? I love meeting people and pets, and I love sharing information to make lives better, so every day I awake with an “attitude of gratitude” and head for the first media interview of the day before dawn. Then I meet with colleagues, then I have a book-signing at a PETCO, then it’s off to the next city.

Yes, I’m loving it, but still … things start to blur a little after a while.

Until a single person stands out, and reminds you, really, what my life helping pets and people is all about.

Today, a woman named Marguerite Maddox reminded me, but good. And God bless her for it.

Marguerite told me she has been preparing to come out to our Detroit-area book-signing for a couple of months, after hearing me interviewed on PetLife radio talking about how the special relationship between a person and an animal can be life-changing, and how that’s never more true than when a trained service animal is paired up with a person living with a disability.

Like Marguerite.

“I heard you on the radio, talking about what dogs can do to help,” she said, “and I was determined to come out and meet you.”

Determination was exactly what it took, because getting around isn’t easy for Marguerite, not even with her service dog, Jello, to help.  The book-signing was miles away from her home in Detroit, and it took her a couple of buses and an hour and a half to get to the signing. But she wanted me to see what she could do, and she wanted to talk to me about it.

Jello is a Lab mix, and she is Marguerite’s first service dog. Jello helps by making her aware of her surroundings, by picking up dropped items and by helping alert to sounds Marguerite cannot hear.  She also, like many service dogs, helps to bridge the gap between people who don’t know what to say to a person with disabilities; “your dog is beautiful” is a natural place to start. And that’s where I started, with Marguerite, but that’s not where I ended. She told me how important it was to share her story, her love of photography, and how much she liked my books.

I do run into a lot of fans, but few are as determined to see me as Marguerite was, and I was very, very touched and grateful for her.

As always, our day in Detroit ended with a long drive to the next city.  I wanted to drive Marguerite and Jello home so they wouldn’t face another long and difficult bus commute, but I couldn’t. We had to hit the road for Chicago. But I never have to worry about caring people in a place full of animal-lovers, and another person at the signing immediately stepped up to drive them home.

I’ll long remember Marguerite and Jello, and how they reminded me why I do what I do.

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