Maybe it was the regular treats that led a black lab named Midnight to the home of an elderly Alexandria woman on Monday. Or maybe the dog just sensed that something was wrong.

Midnight's owner, Tim Curfman, said he was bringing out his garbage cans at about 10:30 a.m. Monday when the dog trotted over to visit their neighbor. A winter storm had just moved through, dropping a few inches of snow, and the temperature was about zero.

Maybe Midnight was hoping for treats. However, after just a few moments, the dog was back. She looked at Curfman.

"I could just tell she wanted me to go with her," he said.

Curfman followed his dog and discovered his neighbor lying in the snow. She'd fallen while trying to fill her bird feeder and couldn't get up. She wore a coat and mittens but no hat, and had crawled about 10 feet to her garage. She lay outside the garage door, so cold her hands had turned blue.

If it hadn't been for Midnight, Curfman said he wouldn't have noticed his elderly neighbor.

"I asked her right away if anything was broken," Curfman said. "She said she was just cold and couldn't get up."

The unnamed woman, 87, confirmed the incident to the Echo Press. She had wanted to fill the bird feeder before the bitter cold set in, but the snow gave way under her feet and she lost her balance. She wasn't sure how long she was on the ground.

She focused on reaching something to pull herself up on, but when Midnight came rushing over and then disappeared, she felt relief, knowing that help was coming. She doesn't think she would have been able to get up on her own, she said.

Curfman said he and his wife helped their neighbor inside and stayed with her until she warmed up.

The neighbor called Midnight a hero.