When Ed Davis' 11-year-old Labrador retriever went missing, he was certain that his blind dog would have frozen to death because of the below 40 temperature in Ester, Alaska.
His dog, named Madera, is completely blind because of an autoimmune disease, and so Davis prepared his heart for the worst when she failed to come home after being let out on February 6, according to News Miner.
Davis tried to retrace his dog's steps, but after two weeks of unsuccessful searching, the only hope Davis had was in finding Madera's frozen body.
"My best hope was to walk those trails and look for a track that might be hers," he said. "My best hope was to find a frozen dog."
Things would have taken a sad turn had it not been for Constantine Khrulev and his own dog. The two were out on the trails last week and Khrulev was riding a bike. His dog was wearing a bell and ran past Madera, who responded to the tinkling sound.
Madera let out a helpless whine and when Khrulev inspected the woods, he found the blind dog under a tree - more than a hundred yards from the trail and half a mile away from Davis' house.
Davis said that Khrulev's extra effort to find the ailing Madera made all the difference, because the blind dog "was not going to be found accidentally," he said.
Madera sadly lost 14 pounds because of the ordeal, but she is still in good health, said Davis. He offered to give a $100 reward to Khrulev, who refused the money and insisted that it go to the Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund instead.
Davis was so touched by Khrulev's kindness that he decided to increase the donation to $250.
Madera is not the first blind dog to go missing in Alaska. Back in December 2012, a blind eight-year-old dog named Abby was discovered 10 miles away from her Two River area home.
