Minnesota — A St. Bernard dog that ran away from a foster home in Minnesota has been found alive after surviving 17 days in freezing temperatures.
Ruff Start Rescue director Azure Davis says she wasn't sure the 10-year-old dog named Old Lady was alive after so much time had passed. Old Lady bolted from her foster home Jan. 4 and her leash got tangled in the woods in Zimmerman.
Flyers were posted and search parties were formed. But there was no sign of Old Lady until Monday. A grandfather and his grandsons spotted her in the woods and called law enforcement which notified Ruff Start Rescue.
It wasn't the first time Old Lady had been rescued. Davis says she spent a decade at a puppy mill in Wisconsin.
Ruff Start Rescue says "Old Lady" was brought to their care facility in Princeton on Friday, Jan. 4, having been found near Zimmerman. She was very skittish having previously been in a puppy mill where she spent her entire life living in a barn.
She escaped that same day and only a couple of people reported seeing the big dog in the two and a half weeks that followed.
Old Lady is frostbitten and malnourished, but rescuers say her vital signs are strong.