Man finds woman unresponsive in front yard after his dog alerted him during their daily walk

ASHLAND, Va. (WWBT/Gray News) - A dreary day in Virginia never puts a damper on Dan DiCandilo’s walk around the neighborhood with his dog, Gozier.

“We walk five miles a day, every day, and we’ve been doing that for nine years,” DiCandilo said. “Gozier is the child we’ve never had.”

About three weeks ago, the pair’s daily stroll took a different turn.

“We were about halfway up Henry Clay heading towards the tracks, as we call it here in Ashland, and she started barking wildly at a house that we pass every single day,” DiCandilo said. “The bark had a little cry to it. It was different. It wasn’t a bark I had heard from her before.”

Gozier pulled DiCandilo toward the home, where they found a woman unresponsive on the front steps.

“It was a woman who was on her back in a white robe, which camouflaged her and made it impossible to see from the road,” DiCandilo said. “She had no hat. She had no gloves. She had no shoes.”

DiCandilo quickly called 911 and talked to the homeowner, who said the woman didn’t live there. While waiting for first responders, Gozier tried to wake up the woman.

“Gozier was nonstop barking and was barking at her, fairly close to her,” said DiCandilo.

Those actions saved the woman’s life, just in the nick of time.

“Phone camera on the neighbor’s door showed her crawling on his front lawn at 4:15 in the morning, so we walked by at 7:15, 15-degree temperature, she had been out there for three hours,” DiCandilo said. “The woman, from what I understand, spent a week in ICU, her body temperature was 78 degrees, and somehow survived.”

The town of Ashland is calling Gozier a hero, proving not all heroes wear capes.

“Dogs are special. They have that sense that we don’t have, and obviously, that was well displayed that morning,” said DiCandilo. “It’s like a proud father. That’s my little girl.”

On Tuesday night, the town of Ashland hosted a ceremony to honor Gozier.