Mount Aloysius students Lilly Cypher (from left), Lakin Baker, Erika Alexander and Sara Borlie stand with Sadie after locating the pup by the school’s soccer field. Courtesy photo

A quartet of Mount Aloysius students are being praised for their kindness and dog-catching skills after they braved the rain and the cold to find a pup that escaped from its kennel at a Cresson doggy day care.

Friends Lilly Cypher, Erika Alexander, Sara Borlie and Lakin Baker — all 20 years old — searched for the 1-year-old doodle named Sadie in the pouring, cold rain until catching her by the school’s soccer field on Oct. 23.

The college posted about the group’s effort on its Facebook page, where the story was shared more than 80 times and comments poured in, praising the ladies for their kindness.

“This is the kind of heartwarming story that restores your faith in humanity,” read one post, while another offered “Many thanks and endless blessings to these girls for taking some extra time to help a stranger.”

The adventure began about noon that Thursday when Duncansville residents Louise and Robert Snyder spotted Cypher, a nursing student, walking to her car after class.

The Snyders were searching for Sadie, their granddog, after she escaped from a nearby pet boarding facility where she got out of her kennel, climbed a fence and jumped out.

The Duncansville couple said Sadie’s family went on vacation and as the pup’s grandparents, they got the call about the escape.

They had driven through Cresson that morning looking for the pup, then talked to a person who saw a small dog running toward The Mount. When they saw Cypher, they asked if she happened to see the dog.

Cypher “immediately volunteered to call her friends and look for (Sadie),” Louise Snyder said. “I thought that was wonderful.”

Cypher, who was already on a phone call with Baker, texted Alexander, who then told Borlie about the missing dog.

Before leaving her house, Baker grabbed a leash in the hopes they would find the pooch.

Cypher will “drop anything to help anyone,” Baker said.

The girls followed Sadie’s trail throughout the neighboring woods and fields for an hour until finding her by the soccer field. The pup was wet, dirty and covered in ticks, Cypher said.

“She was shivering when we were in the car waiting for the grandparents,” she said, adding “we picked at least 20 ticks off of her.”

After Sadie warmed up, Baker said the puppy was back to normal, licking their faces.

Louise Snyder said she bawled when she saw Sadie again, and offered the four a reward, which they turned down.

Alexander said it was more important for the owners to find their dog instead of gaining any monetary value from the situation.

“If I lost my dog, I would be hysterical,” she said. “I thought it was the right thing to do. Dogs can be family members, they mean so much to people.”

“It breaks my heart if a dog goes missing without anyone looking for it,” Borlie added.

Snyder said their selflessness was heartwarming.

“You don’t run into kids like that anymore,” she said.

After hearing the story, Mount Aloysius College President John N. McKeegan surprised the students with gift cards to the bookstore as a “small token of appreciation,” according to the post on the school’s Facebook page.

“The Mount Aloysius College puts a lot of weight into our mercy values,” said Courtney Edmundson, marketing and communication specialist. “These four young women really lived that with extending a hand to find this poor, lost puppy.”

“With everything happening in the world, seeing four young adults coming together to rescue a dog is very heartfelt and hopeful,” she said.

“I can’t tell you how grateful we are to those kids,” Louise Snyder said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.