Good dog! Elderly woman saved from freezing to death by observant black Lab

A black Lab mix in Minnesota is being credited with saving an elderly woman's life by alerting her owner to a neighbor who had collapsed in the snow.

What's the story?

On Jan. 28, the temperature in Alexandria, Minnesota, had dropped to only 1 degree above zero.

Despite the cold, an 87-year-old woman identified only as Noreen went outside to try to fill her bird feeder. While she was outside she fell and was unable to get back up.

"We figured she was out there at least a half an hour," Noreen's neighbor, Tim Curfman, told WCCO-TV. "She could not have gotten up because her gloves had gotten wet and, you know, she didn't have enough strength in her fingers to push herself up. And there was nothing on the garage to get ahold of, on the corner to get ahold of to get up."

Noreen may have frozen to death if Curfman's 4-year-old black Lab mix named Midnight had not found her.

When Curfman took Midnight with him to bring out their trash cans, she began to act strangely. He said he knew right away that something wasn't right.

"She had her ears perked up looking at me. She doesn't normally do that. Sometimes you get that feeling something's up," he said.

Midnight then led Curfman directly to the spot where Noreen had fallen. Thankfully, Curfman and his wife were able to get her inside and into warm clothes quickly enough to avoid frostbite.

What else?

Noreen told WCCO that she owes her life to Midnight.

Curfman also assured WCCO reporters that Midnight was being well compensated for her actions.

"We've been very proud of her because it's not every dog that pays attention to things like this," Curfman said, sitting for an interview with the well behaved Midnight beside him.

He added with a laugh that "she got so many treats, it was a shame."