A Kalispell woman risked her own life and limb to save a dog in distress Monday afternoon.

Shortly before 3 p.m., Lynn McGarvey heard someone banging on her front door urgently. She opened it to find a man, who asked her if she had a black dog.

She told him no and that her four dogs were in the backyard. That’s when he told her a dog was stuck in the water nearby after falling through the ice.

“I started running around the neighborhood, trying to find someone with a rope or a ladder to slide out on the ice, but couldn’t find anyone,” McGarvey said.

Eventually, she was able to find two young men with a rope and went behind her property to where the dog had gone into the water. Another woman showed up with a life jacket, a dog leash and a blanket.

“We had called 911 about three times, but no one had shown up,” McGarvey said. “The other lady said the dog had been in the water for 15 minutes, and you could tell he was exhausted. That was when I said, ‘I’m not going to witness this.’”

Throwing caution to the wind, she put on the life jacket, tied the rope around her waist, handed the other end to the people on shore and headed out toward the dog.

“The dog was about midway out, and when I got to him, he was growling a little bit, but I went kind of up behind him and put the leash underneath his collar and slid it through,” McGarvey said.

She then pulled the dog in and was pulled back to land by the people on the shore. After she was back on dry land, McGarvey wrapped the blanket around the dog and held the shaking animal tight.

“I’m a nurse,” McGarvey said. “I would do it again, for anyone or any animal — wild or tame — any time. That’s just me.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or at [email protected].