Hero Dog Saves Woman From Severe Hypothermia On Frigid Morning Walk

March 5, 2026

It was one of the coldest mornings of the month — 15 degrees — in Ashland, Virginia, and Dan DiCandilo admits he probably would’ve stayed inside.

“That was a rough morning,” he said. “That was 15 degrees. You know, if she wasn’t standing by the door, looking out the window, I probably wouldn’t have gone but she really doesn’t care how cold it is.”

The “she” is Gozier — his loyal walking partner who never misses her daily stroll, no matter the weather.

Gozier and his owners / Credit: Facebook

About 20 minutes into their walk, something changed. Gozier suddenly began barking — but not her usual bark.

“The bark was a different bark in that it had a little bit of a cry to it,” DiCandilo said. “I tried to pull her. I said, ‘come on, Gozier, let’s go,’ and she resisted.”

Her attention was locked onto what looked like a pile of snow in front of a nearby home.

But it wasn’t snow.

“It was a woman in a white robe, and she was barely moving, really struggling,” DiCandilo said.

DiCandilo immediately called 911.

He later learned the woman lived next door to where she was found and had been outside in the freezing temperatures for three hours. Her body temperature had dropped to 78 degrees — a level classified as severe hypothermia and a critical medical emergency.

“The woman had Alzheimer’s and was known to try to walk out of the house in the middle of the night,” he explained.

Thankfully, she was taken to the hospital and released just a few days later.

Word of Gozier’s life-saving instincts quickly spread. Not long after, DiCandilo received a call from the Town of Ashland to recognize the heroic pup during a council meeting.

In a social media post, the Fall Line Trail shared:

“Yesterday, our Executive Director Will Dixon gave a presentation on the Fall Line to Town of Ashland, Virginia's Town Council. And we got to meet and recognize Gozier, the wonderful dog who saved a woman's life during the ice storm!”