On a freezing February day, three-year-old Victoria Bensch wandered away from her home in Cordes Lakes, Arizona. Victoria quickly got lost in the mountains surrounding her house, and she ended up spending the night out in the wilderness. When the sun set, the temperature quickly dipped below 30 degrees.
Thankfully, Victoria had a companion who kept her safe and warm: her dog Blue.
The Queensland Heeler followed Victoria when she wandered away from her home, and the dog stayed with her through the freezing night.
“The dog kept her alert, warm and gave her companionship throughout a very cold night,” Dwight D’Evelyn, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, told The Arizona Republic.
While Blue and Victoria hunkered down in a dry creek bed, a search party looked for the little girl. Friends and relatives walked through the mountains, shouting Victoria’s name. The Department of Public Safety also sent a helicopter out to look for her.
After fifteen hours of searching, the helicopter pilot finally spotted Victoria and Blue.
The pilot, Matthew Uhl, landed near the creek bed. The medic who was with him, Eric Tarr, approached the girl and her dog. Blue eyed Tarr warily as he approached Victoria. But once Victoria smiled, Blue relaxed.
“I think once the dog realized we were there to help them out, he was very excited,” Uhl told The Arizona Republic. “He ran around while the medic tended to the little girl, and when it was time to go, he jumped right into the helicopter and was ready to go.”
Uhl and Tarr took Victoria to Phoenix’s Children Hospital, where she was treated for frostbite. But overall, the doctors said that she was healthy. If Blue wasn’t there to keep her warm, she would have been in much worse shape.
21″We have to give a lot of credit to Blue,” Kim Rayfield, Victoria’s aunt, The Arizona Republic. “He pretty much stayed with her all night.”
Thanks to Blue, Victoria survived her ordeal, and she made a full recovery. Blue is a true hero!
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