ohmidog!

A North Dakota woman died trying to save her dog from the Sheyenne River.

Thirty-eight-year-old Jodi Kvien Opatz of Valley City called authorities Friday morning, asking for help getting her spaniel out of the river, near the Little Dam.

Dispatchers told her to wait for help to arrive, but Kvien Opatz said she was going to try to save the dog, said Valley City Fire Chief Gary Retterath.

“It was almost like a family member or a kid to her,” Ratterath told DL-Online. “You risk your life for someone you love, and she loved (the dog). I guess I believe that is what went through her mind.”

While crews were retrieving the woman’s body, the dog managed to pull itself out of the river, Retterath said.

Once the woman’s body was pulled from the river, the dog jumped back in and drowned.

“By the time we got to it, it was too late,” Retterath said. “It got into the undercurrent of the dam.”

(Photo: From the Facebook page of Jodi Kvien Opatz)