
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991                   TAG: 9104040628
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOWIE, MD.                                LENGTH: Short

LOST TOT KEPT SAFE BY DOGS

A 3-year-old girl who wandered away from her home was found safe after spending the night in the woods with the family's two dogs, who provided warmth and companionship.

Katherine George was found, along with the dogs, Wednesday about 1 1/2 miles from her home near the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge.

"The oldest dog - Kaiser - that we found with her appeared to be keeping her warm," volunteer searcher Tim Craig said. Kaiser, a German shepherd, is 14 years old, deaf and partially blind, family members said.

"All she had on was a light jacket," said Capt. Ron Siarnicki, spokesman for Prince George's County Fire Department. "The fact that she was with the dogs, and the dogs maybe huddled with her, that's part of the reason she's all right."

The girl suffered from apparent exposure, but was otherwise unharmed, said county police spokesman Cpl. Mark Polk. She was treated at Children's Hospital in nearby Washington, D.C., and released.

Overnight temperatures had dipped into the low 30s.

by CNB