Summary Madera is completely blind because of an autoimmune disease.
FAIRBANKS (AP) — A blind dog who wandered away from her Ester, Alaska, home during a cold snap has been reunited with her owner.
The 11-year-old Labrador retriever named Madera ventured away from home on Feb. 6, when the temperature dipped to 40 degrees below zero.
Her owner, Ed Davis, said he didn t expect to find her alive. "My best hope was to walk those trails and look for a track that might be hers," he said. "My best hope was to find a frozen dog."
A man riding a bike accompanied by a bell-wearing dog located Madera in the woods last week, about a half-mile from the Davis home, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://ow.ly/JLEQr) reported. Madera let out a whine when she heard the dog s bell.
Davis said his dog lost 14 pounds but was, overall, healthy.
The man who rescued her, Constantine Khrulev, asked for the $100 reward money to go to the Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund. Davis was so impressed by the gesture that he increased the donation to $250.
Madera is completely blind because of an autoimmune disease.
This isn t the only tale of a lost, blind dog to end happily in Fairbanks in recent years: A blind 8-year-old dog named Abby walked more than 10 miles in 2012 from her home in the Two River area before she was rescued.
