When Caterina and her family hastily evacuated their home in north-east Victoria as fire approached, they were not able to find their new puppy and left without him.

"We bought the dog for the children for a Christmas present, and my boy was very upset for the dog," she said.

However, they returned to their Tintaldra home the next day to find the dog had survived.

Darren Jones, the owner of the Tintaldra Hotel, said the family took the dog straight to his pub where he soaked it in cold water and applied burn gel.

"We got him straight into the tub and got some cold water on his feet and we put some burn gel on and wrapped him up,' he said.

"He basically had a drink of water and went straight to sleep."