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Peanut The Dog Saves Naked, Freezing, 3-Year-Old Michigan Girl Found In Ditch

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 05:28 PST, Mar 26, 2017

A formerly abused rescue dog may have paid it forward in a big way by rescuing a three-year-old girl who was found outside naked in a ditch in freezing cold Michigan temperatures.

Formerly named Petunia, the one-year-old, mixed-breed dog now called Peanut was turned over to the Delta Animal Shelter in Escanaba, Michigan, last April with broken ribs and broken legs. Authorities convicted her owner of animal abuse.

In a posting on the Delta Facebook page, Peanut’s new owner detailed how the canine saved the life of the toddler earlier this month by notifying the family in her own way that something was very wrong outside.

“About 11am this morning, Peanut started going crazy at our house. She was running up and down the stairs, barking and yelping. She then went and got my husband.. and alerted him that she wanted to go outside. He said he could hear her running around upstairs but didn’t understand why. He let her outside where she went barreling into the field behind our house at full speed. My husband followed her and to his surprise, he found a naked, shivering, 3 year old girl curled up in a ball. He scooped her up, wrapped her in his sweatshirt, and brought her inside. He called 911 and reported the incident…”

As of this writing, the social media letter has received 3,300-plus shares and generated about 700 comments.

When first responders arrived at the scene near the town of Rapid River, the toddler said only one word: “doggie.” The little girl received treatment at a local hospital and is apparently okay, fortunately, with no symptoms of hypothermia or other injuries.

After locating the parents of the girl in a door-to-door search of the neighborhood, Delta County sheriff’s deputies described her home as “unsafe and unsanitary,” MLive reported. State officials with child protective services now have custody of the little girl.

The incident is under review by local prosecutors in Delta County, pending a full investigation by detectives.

A deputy who responded to the incident told TV 6 in Upper Michigan that “the child is fine and is well and is in good hands as we speak. There was one other child that was located in the home, and that child was removed as well, and to my knowledge both those children are together in a foster care- type home.”

As dog lovers are well aware, this encounter is one of many scenarios where man’s best friend saved the lives of humans or otherwise displayed extreme devotion during medical emergencies.

Earlier this year, also in Michigan, a loyal golden retriever was credited with helping save the life of an Emmet County man who slipped in the snow on New Year’s Eve and broke his neck when no one else was around. The man, 64, lived on a farm in a remote area in the northern part of the state, with no close neighbors. Kelsey, the golden, stayed by her owner’s side for 20 hours, keeping him warm until help arrived. The owner is expected to make a full recovery.

“It’s unclear from the letter whether Peanut heard or saw something strange through a window on that 32-degree morning or was just being rambunctious and then smelled or heard the child once she went outside,” the Washington Post claimed, however, about the more recent incident.

“Thanks to Peanut, a little girls life was saved today. She has been such a blessing to us, and now to others. Words cannot express how grateful we are that we have Peanut in our lives and how amazing she is,” the owner’s Facebook message concluded about the rescue of the three-year-old girl in Michigan by the adopted rescue dog.

[Featured Image by Jean Faucett/Shutterstock]

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