Labradoodles Eva, bottom, and Adam are photographed at their home near Vineyard Lake in Norvell Township, Mich., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2017. On Jan. 13, the dogs found an elderly woman on the ground, freezing with nothing on but a nightgown.
Labradoodles Eva, bottom, and Adam are photographed at their home near Vineyard Lake in Norvell Township, Mich., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2017. On Jan. 13, the dogs found an elderly woman on the ground, freezing with nothing on but a nightgown. J. Scott Park AP
Labradoodles Eva, bottom, and Adam are photographed at their home near Vineyard Lake in Norvell Township, Mich., on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2017. On Jan. 13, the dogs found an elderly woman on the ground, freezing with nothing on but a nightgown. J. Scott Park AP

These dogs begged to be let outside. They saved an 89-year-old from freezing to death

January 21, 2018 10:37 AM

Two labradoodles are being credited with saving an elderly woman’s life.

The dogs, Adam and Eva, woke their owners at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 14, 2018. They tugged on their owner’s sleeve, insisting to be let outside.

The owners, Lonnie and Susan Chester, told the Jackson Citizen Patriot that they were at first wary of letting them out into the snowy yard of their Norvell Township, Mich., home, worried something dangerous was alarming the dogs.

"(Adam) never tugged on my clothes before, so I was cautious about letting them out because I didn't know if there was anything out there," Lonnie Chester said, according to The Associated Press.

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access.

But the Chesters finally relented, sliding open their door. Adam and Eva bolted out, going straight to a woman lying in the snow. The woman, who is in her late 80s, was wearing nothing but a nightgown.

“She looked up at me and said, ‘I’m so cold,’” Lonnie Chester told the Citizen Patriot. “I have no idea how long she had been out there. She must have been terrified.”

The temperature around the time was about 9 degrees.

Lonnie Chester brought the woman inside, covered her in blankets and called police, according to The Associated Press.

The woman’s family arrived shortly after rescue crews, The AP reported. They had been searching for her but couldn’t see her in the darkness.

“It could have been a tragic outcome had Adam and Eva not woken us,” Susan Chester said. “I don’t know how they knew she was out there.”

Max Londberg: 816-234-4378, @MaxLondberg