Havanese Puppy Survives Two Weeks In Cold, Rescued By Two Students

A tiny Havanese puppy was shaking from the cold when two students at the University of Missouri spotted her in the snow. With temperatures dipping below 4 degrees, Trevor Koelling and Riley Girardier tried to catch the puppy they spotted on the campus grounds just before midnight.

But she escaped under a fence onto the football field, Faurot Field. Knowing the poor puppy would likely die from exposure, they called University police to help with her rescue.

MUPD officer John Hayes managed to catch her by luring her over with chicken treats and brought her to MU Vet hospital before bringing her home for the night.

The Havanese they nicknamed “Elsa” from ‘Frozen’ didn’t have a tag or microchip, but a Facebook post alerted her owner, Katherine Matteson, who said she only had Mia for a week before the puppy climbed a snow bank over her backyard fence and ran away.

She reunited with her lost dog the following day.

“I’m just really grateful that the officers were able to catch her and bring her home to me,” Matteson told KOMU News.

Mia had been missing for two weeks and somehow managed to survive a huge snow fall and below-freezing temperatures before she was rescued by the MIZZOU students. Matteson suspects that Mia may have had more than one guardian angel, wondering if someone may have taken her inside for a period of time before the pup ran away again.

Whatever her ordeal, Mia is back home safe and sound thanks to the kind-hearted group of people who went out of their way to help her.