A rescue at the LaSalle Marina has a local woman thanking complete strangers.
Dawn St. Louis was fostering a dog for a woman in Chicago who has pancreatic cancer.
St. Louis brought the dog named "Wynter" home on Saturday, but while she was taking her out of the car, Wynter jumped over her shoulder and took off.
St. Louis went after her, but couldn't find her.
She took to Facebook and people began searching for her.
Sunday afternoon, Wynter was located behind the marina and with the help of the LaSalle Fire Dept., she was retrieved off a piece of ice.
"They ended up calling in the fire department to help and Wynter was rescued under a dock. She had gone into the water and was able to pull herself out," she says. "She saved her own life by getting onto some ice and being able to pull herself out of the water."
St. Louis was in panic mode during the frantic search to locate the dog and spent a sleepless night Saturday worried that coyotes may get her.
"Complete strangers were stopping and helping, neighbours were helping the ladies that were out searching on Sunday because I had to be at work,"she says. "So when I got the message at 1:30pm or 2pm, I had to leave what I was doing and go into the bathroom and just balled."
St. Louis says Wynter is home, safe and warm, and they will head to the vet Monday afternoon to check her over.