A woman and her dog, Sparky, were out for a walk near Holmes Lake in Lincoln, Nebraska when the dog ran to the middle of the ice and slipped into the freezing water. Attempting to save Sparky, the woman jumped in after him and ended up getting caught in the lake as well. Luckily for the pair, two men who had been inspecting the nearby dam saw the woman thrashing in the water and went over to rescue her. But they wouldn't have been successful without Sparky.
One of the men, Raymond Frana, had some rope in the bed of his truck, but it wasn't long enough to reach the woman -- at least, it wouldn't have been long enough if Sparky hadn't been there. "We put the rope under [Sparky's] collar, and she called to the dog and he got the rope to her," Frana told a local ABC affiliate. Frana then was able to lay on his stomach and cross the ice to pull the woman back ashore. "We got her into the truck, and everything is alright now," he said. "If it wasn't for this dog, that lady would have gone under."
The woman was taken to a Lincoln hospital to recover from hypothermia. Frana said she and Sparky are both doing well.