Northern Minn. Man Saves Life Of 5-Month-Old Puppy

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Clayton Van Wert told WCCO's Dave Lee he was at a garbage dump on the edge of the Red Lake Indian Reservation Friday night when he heard a sound coming from one of the bins.

"What I heard was a whimper and I thought, 'oh my God, there's got to be a dog that's somewhere in here.'" Van Wert said.

Van Wert says the bin was on fire, and so he reached down and pulled the 5-month-old husky mix out of the ashes.

"I put him on the ground and he started to walk and I thought this guy's not in bad shape," he said.

Van Wert called the tribal conservation officer, who took the dog to a shelter on the reservation. The puppy was then taken to a Twin Cities shelter.

The vet there says most of the hair on the puppy was charred and he'll have to have skin graft surgery.