Everyone knows UPS drivers are busy, especially right before Christmas, but that didn’t stop one in Bozeman, Montana from taking a break from delivering packages to save a life. Ryan Arens was on his route in December when he heard a dog in distress. The driver says the pooch was screaming and crying and going crazy as the sun was going down, but didn’t see the dog, so he drove to the other side of a pond to see if he could find it.
From there, Arens spotted the dog, trapped about 10 to 15 feet from shore, with ice all around it. There was an older man in a rowboat trying unsuccessfully to chip away at the ice to get to the dog, but the UPS driver had a plan. He says he stripped down to his boxers, got the guy out of the boat, then “slid the boat out onto the ice, using it to distribute” his weight. He then crashed through the ice, swam to reach the dog - who was starting to go under, and pulled her by the collar to get her, sliding her across the ice to shore.
Once they were out of the freezing water, Arens and the dog warmed up in a hot shower at the older guy’s house, before he got back to work delivering holiday packages. He says animals are his weakness and saving this stranger’s dog, a two-and-a-half-year-old wirehaired pointing griffon named Sadie, was the highlight of his 14-year UPS career.
"This dog had a whole lot of life left in her, and I'm really glad I was able to act when I did,” Arens says. “She's a sweetheart."
Source: USA Today