An elderly dog that nearly froze to death in a ditch was reunited with her family thanks to a diligent deputy with the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office in Maine, USA.

On the evening of February 25, Deputy Mark Anderson received a report of a dog lying in the road. He went to the street but, at first, did not find the dog. But he continued to search even though the temperature outside was below 10 degrees.

“After checking the nearby ditches, he found a very cold dog that looked almost frozen to death. There were claw marks where she had tried to get out of the ditch before her paw got too cold. She was holding her paw up and whimpering loudly when Deputy Anderson approached her,” the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook about the incident.

He immediately put her in his patrol car and drove to the dispatch center.

“Dispatchers on duty provided immediate care,” the Facebook post from the sheriff’s office reads. “She was bundled up in blankets and a portable heater was used to warm her up. They prepared a plate of food for her and once she warmed up and stopped shivering, she ate the entire plate.”

Exhausted from the ordeal, the dog fell asleep on the floor.

Deputy Anderson continued to help the dog, making lost dog flyers, handing them out in the neighborhood and knocking on doors, trying to locate the dog’s family.

“It wasn’t long before he discovered the identity of the owner. He learned that the dog was at least 14 years old and had been left outside around 9 p.m. the night before. When she did not return, the owner, an elderly woman, stayed up all night waiting for her dog to return,” the release continued.

Fortunately, the story had a happy ending and the dog was reunited with his owner. We are sure that after such a scare, the owner will be more careful when letting her dog out!

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