Courtesy photo Peanut, the dog who discovered a three-year-old girl naked in a snowy field in 2017 has died.

RAPID RIVER — A rescue dog who made headlines in 2017 for saving the life of a neighbor child has passed away, but not before providing her owners with love, good times, and life lessons.

The mutt who was presumed by Delta Animal Shelter staff to be a beagle mix arrived into their care at four months old with multiple injuries indicative of repeated abuse. The shelter, with the help of veterinarians, nursed her back to health for three months before listing her for adoption.

Rapid River resident Kathryn Frisk read online the story of the pup the shelter called Petunia. She said that she felt a calling to inquire about adopting the dog, and her husband, Kyle, supported her.

“There’s an application process, and from my understanding, there was like over 200 people that applied for her. And I still don’t know why, but the shelter chose us. I know now that God was in the works in the beginning,” Kathryn said.

It was in 2016 that the puppy came to live with the Frisks. Kathryn said the animal was always happy and loving, which was a little surprising, given her history of abuse.

Kathryn renamed the dog “Peanut,” which had previously been a nickname for her niece. It was close to the shelter name, Kathryn said, and she also thought the brown-and-tan dog looked a bit like a peanut butter cup.

On St. Patrick’s Day in 2017, Peanut caused a commotion, running, barking and yelping up and down the stairs, frantically trying to get to something outdoors. When Kyle put the dog out on a lead, she ran to the edge of the lead and pursued until Kyle followed through a snow-covered field and found what Peanut had discovered — a small, filthy, naked three-year-old girl.

Kyle scooped the child up out of the snow, carried her across the street to his mother’s house and called 911.

Investigators found that the three-year-old girl and her five-year-old sister had been living in unsanitary, abusive conditions nearby. When the child found by Peanut was examined by medical personnel, they said she resembled a “feral child.” Both children were developmentally delayed, and both required oral surgery for tooth decay. Previously, when the older girl sustained a compound fracture in one arm, the parents did not follow aftercare orders from a doctor. The house was found to be filled with garbage, feces, rodents and dirt.

Chillingly, Delta County Probate Judge Robert Goebel, Jr., said that it did not seem possible that the naked child would have been able to get outside on her own, and he suspected one of the parents had locked her outdoors in the freezing weather intentionally.

The children were separated from the parents and placed in foster care.

Over the next eight years, Peanut served as a great companion to her family. When the Frisks welcomed two daughters and a cat into their home, Peanut was great with all of them, Kathryn said.

“She loved camping, kayaking, hiking, boating, snowshoeing, snowshoeing … sledding. She was walked daily. She never missed a meal. She loved being in our yard. She was kind of the keeper of the of the yard. Anyone that walked by always got greeted by Peanut,” Kathryn said. “She was just an overall loving dog.”

Recently, Peanut began to struggle with something called Evans syndrome, an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own red blood cells. Kathryn said the vet’s best guess was that a bite from a deer tick and the introduction of Anaplasmosis bacteria kicked into action the disorder that had been lying dormant in Peanut until that time.

“She was slowly dying,” Kathryn reported. “It came down to — we gave the last true act of true love that we could give her, and that was to let her pass peacefully in our arms.”

Peanut would have been 10 years old in December.

Kathryn said that she wished to thank Dr. Gustafson at Thompson Veterinary Clinic for his great love and care throughout Peanut’s life and the Delta Animal Shelter for all they do for all the animals in the county.

Believing that God placed Peanut into the Frisks’ home so that she should be able to save the two girls next door, Kathryn said that the dog left three teachings in her wake:

“The first thing is that she taught us is that God is in control. From the very beginning, God used her to bring light to another situation that needed to be rectified and brought to justice, and he did that through her. We need to trust in Him and His path for us,” Kathryn said.

Number two: “Always try to adopt a shelter pet. These animals, they’re the truest form of unconditional love that you can ever receive. …If you can’t, donate to the shelter. They take more than just money.”

Peanut’s third and final lesson, according to Kathryn, is as follows:

“We all need to help the innocents of this world. And Peanut did that without hesitation. That is the children, the animals of this world — we need to help them. We need to be their voice. If you see something that see something or hear something that isn’t right, you have a civic duty to step up and be that voice of reason and bring justice to a situation. Don’t hesitate. Do the right thing. And Peanut did that. She was the emblem of that for our community.”