FAST-ACTING NEIGHBORS SAVE DOG THAT FALLS THROUGH ICE

Mary Ann Frost was sitting at her sister's house visiting when she saw a large, white dog fall through the ice of Bella Vista Lake.

"We didn't know what to do," Frost said. "My sister told me to call 911, but I knew the dog would die by the time help arrived."

So Frost and her sister sprang to action. Frost ran outside to notify the dog's owners, and her sister called neighbor Virgil Green.

"Mrs. Lawson told me there was a dog drowning in the lake, so I grabbed a rope and a life jacket and ran outside," Green said. "The dog had apparently been out on the island in the middle of the lake and had fallen through a thin part of the ice on his way back.

"He had already passed the open spaces back to the island and wasn't able to break through any more of the ice," he continued. "I was really afraid we were going to watch him die out there."

On his way to the lake, Green flagged down Kevin Fadler, who was on his way home from a doctor's office. Fadler ran down to the lake and commandeered a neighbor's boat, sitting by the lake shore.

"The dog was probably 40-50 feet out in the lake," said Fadler. "You could tell he was getting tired. He was just trying to keep his head above the water; I knew he was in trouble."

Fadler was familiar with the large, white German shepherd.

"I have a black (Labrador retriever) named Gypsy," Fadler said. "The German shepherd comes and visits our dog pretty often -- they're kind of sweet on each other."

Since the ice was too thick for the boat to easily break through, Fadler used a shovel handed to him by Frost as a paddle and to break through the ice on his way to the dog. Green had tied one end of the rope he brought along to the boat; he stood on the shore holding the other end.

At least 15 minutes had elapsed since the dog first fell through the ice.

"I really felt sorry for him," Fadler said. "He was looking at us; he knew we were trying to help him.

"By the time I got to him, he was so tired he couldn't even get into the boat," he continued. "I grabbed him by the back of the neck and tried to hold on to him, but that wasn't working very well -- the dog weighs well over 100 pounds. So I pulled him into the boat with me, as (Green) pulled us back to the shore."

When they got the dog to the shore, Frost said the dog was so cold he could not move his hind legs.

"We grabbed some blankets and dried him off right away," she said. "Since his owners were not home, we took him up to my sister's garage, where we dried him real good, wrapped him in blankets and fed him."

Thursday evening, the dog was sleeping on Frost's sister's porch, on a clean, dry rug.

"I have a feeling he's going to stay there for awhile," said Frost. "I think he's too tired to go home."

All three believe that if Frost and her sister had not seen the dog fall through the ice, the story would not have a happy ending.

"We were lucky the boat was sitting there by the lake," Green said. "We couldn't swim out to get him -- the ice was too thick. There was almost nothing we could do.

"I guess this was just a case of man helping man's best friend," he said.