Dog with Cancer Found Outside Woman's Basement Window, Covered in Bitter Cold Snow
Patsy Sumpter of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, routinely lets her Goldendoodle, Buddy, outside each day. The 13-year-old pup is blind and battling cancer but still well-trained.
When Sumpter lets him out, Buddy always returns, but Wednesday night, Jan. 10 was a different story. This time, when Sumpter called for him, he was nowhere in sight.
“Normally he goes down in the woods and he comes back,” she said. “And he didn’t come back.”
She called for him, but it was getting late and there was still no sign of the dog. The very next day, Sumpter searched for her dog.
It was just her luck that heavy snowfall started to come down that morning. Buddy’s disappearance was now an issue of life or death.
Days had passed, and Sumpter’s pup was still missing — but a miracle was on the way.
Nearby neighbor Emily Raguse normally doesn’t go into the spare room in her basement, but on that following Monday, she felt the need to look down there. She’d been gone over the weekend.
Upon entering the room, she noticed a strange object outside of the basement window. It was a dog curled up and covered in bitter cold snow.
Raguse went outside to cover the dog with a blanket. “He was really, really lethargic, so he pretty much was only moving his head a little bit,” she said.
Buddy was in a tough-to-reach spot, having fallen several feet into the enclosed space. No wonder he couldn’t return when Sumpter called him!
Raguse had dubbed the pup “Buddy” without even knowing his real name. Once Eden Prarie police came, they determined that the dog’s tag actually did read “Buddy.”
It appeared divine intervention was working things out for Sumpter. When she found out what happened to her dog, she was in shock.
“It’s been just the worst five days of my life,” Sumpter said. “I can’t believe he lived through that.”
The two women believed Raguse was meant to go down in her spare room that day. After all, Sumpter never gave up praying for Buddy to be okay.
“I prayed and prayed and it’s just so miraculous that they found him,” she said. “I don’t think he would have made it one more night.”
Thankfully, this old pup has been returned home, is scheduled for a check-up with the vet, and can live out the rest of his days in warmth.
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