EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — A blind 13-year-old dog that has cancer was found covered in snow and barely able to move after he spent five nights outside in the bitter cold, huddled in a window well of a neighbor's home in eastern Minnesota.
Patsy Sumpter told KARE-TV that it was a miracle her goldendoodle, Buddy, was discovered alive, saying he probably wouldn't have survived another night.
Sumpter said she let Buddy outside her Eden Prairie home on Wednesday night, but he never returned.
“Normally, he goes down in the woods and he comes back,” she said. “And he didn't come back. And I kept calling and calling.”
She began searching as the weather deteriorated.
“It snowed that next morning and it just got worse and worse, and I just felt so helpless,” she said. Sumpter didn't realize that Buddy was still close to home.
On Monday, neighbor Emily Raguse went down to her basement and something in a window well caught her eye. There was a dog curled up and covered in snow.
“I couldn't even believe my eyes,” she said. “He was really, really lethargic, so he pretty much was only moving his head a little bit.”
Raguse covered the dog with a towel until police arrived and lifted him from the window well.
Buddy was finally reunited with Sumpter thanks to the phone number on his name tag.
After spending a harrowing few days in frigid weather, Buddy is soaking up the warmth of a fire under a blanket. He's scheduled to go to the vet for a check-up Wednesday, Sumpter said.
“He didn't want to die there I guess,” she said. “He wanted to come home and be with us.”
