“(Jill) was happy to be out and was walking fine,” she said.

Friday evening, Swartzentruber, who often took the dogs to work, said Jill seemed to be doing well, and she had not delivered her puppies prematurely.

Jill’s rescue and Jack’s death, though unfortunate, gave emergency workers training which they could use should a human fall through ice in the coming years.

“Every time we go out on calls, I learn something new,” said Fleming. “It makes people in this type of work better at what they do. We had all the resources there that we needed if there were people in the water. I appreciate everybody showing up as quick as they did. The people at Dinkys and the surrounding area heard us coming and came out to see if they could lend assistance. It’s just a super community pulling together just like they did during the tornado. If rest of the country could pull together like this county pulls together, we’d have a wonderful place to live.”

Assisting Southwest Medical personnel and sheriff’s deputies were a conservation officer and state police.