Mary Hartman's friends say a heroic hound is the reason she's still alive today.

Hartman, 91, slipped on a patch of ice as she was attempting to deliver cookies to a nearby neighbor. But it was a 3-year-old dog's insistent nature that prevented Hartman from freezing to death as she laid on the frigid cement, reported WNEM-TV in Saginaw, Mich.

Hartman called for help, but it was a cry that only neighbor Judy Sawatzki's Jack Russell terrier mix, Taz, could hear.

"He would run to the window and come back to me," Sawatzki said. "He would whine and bark, and then go back to the window again."

That's when Sawatzki let Taz outside, and the terrier mix shot down the driveway barking for her to follow. Taz led her to Hartman, who was crying for help on the icy driveway.

Hartman had enough strength to lift her head just above a snow bank that was keeping her concealed from anyone driving by.

Hartman broke her wrist, shoulder, injured her hip and was trapped for nearly an hour in the snow until Taz brought help.

Friends of Hartman said they hope Taz is always around to watch over them.

"I don't want him to go no place," said Kay Devereaux.

And neither does his owner.

"He's one heck of a dog, that's all I have to say," Sawatzki said.

Taz is thankful, too: He was a stray until just three months ago.

Hartman is recovering at a local hospital.