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 "Let other folks retire to warm climates," said the 68-year-old Bray. "I'm spending the rest of my days where the weather may be cold but the hearts are warm."
Bray called 911 after Buddy fell into Little Lake Butte des Morts and was clinging to ice about 300 feet from shore last weekend.
She said Buddy -- a "poodle mixed with adorable" -- probably darted onto the ice to bark at ducks in the water.
She tried to get to Buddy but broke through the ice on her first step from shore.
Firefighters from Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue arrived with self-inflating wetsuits and ropes and headed onto the ice.
Firefighter Jason Phillip said Buddy was losing strength by the time they got to him.
"On my way out, it went under the water, and it took a second to come back up," he said. "It was really struggling. If we would have waited an extra minute, I don't know if it would have made it."
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 Buddy had been in the icy water about 15 minutes.
Bray took the 26-pound dog to the Fox Valley Animal Referral Center in Grand Chute for treatment, including an intravenous therapy of warm fluids.
By late Saturday afternoon, the two were back home, and Bray was reflecting on the firefighters' response.
"That's not their job, really," she said. "They are there to rescue people. The kindness that was demonstrated was amazing to me."
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Information from: The Post-Crescent,
http://www.postcrescent.com/
[Associated
Press]
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