It took half an hour to free 10-year-old chow Elsa who was 'incoherent'

Police have rescued a dog who was found frozen to the ground of a garage.

The 10-year-old chow, nicknamed Elsa after the movie Frozen, had bleeding paws and frostbitten ears with her lead wrapped around her leg as wind chill temperatures hovered around -10F in Ecorse, Michigan.

A frozen bowl of water was inches away, just out of reach, police said.

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Frozen: It took rescuers half an hour to unfreeze Elsa's leg from the floor of her owner's garage in Ecorse

Officers were called to her rescue by a neighbor who heard whimpering inside the building at 9.30am on Tuesday.

'It took about a half an hour to get her unfrozen from the ground,' Patricia Trevino of the River Rouge Animal Shelter told WJBK.

'They had to pour warm water on her. Her two legs were frozen. The side of her face and her side, she was literally lying frozen to the ground.'

'The dog was incoherent, was not responsive. She didn't start crying until the water was poured on her,' Trevino said.

Speaking from Healthy Paws Medical Center in Westland, where Elsa is being treated, Trevino said: 'Her feet are literally bleeding tonight when she walks because they were frozen. They were a block of ice. The toes were frozen together.'

The owner claimed he put Elsa in the garage at 5am and did not realize how cold it was.

Struggle: She has frostbitten ears and seemed shaken after allegedly being left for days alone in the cold

Wounded: Elsa's foot was bleeding after officials eventually pried her from the inches of frozen water

His neighbor Marylou Rotrock disputes the account, saying he has been out of town for days.

He has been cited and police are pursuing animal cruelty charges, according to Fox News.

'I kept hearing (the dog), so I had to walk over there,' Rotrock told Fox News. 'And I'm not one that goes over on other people's property. Something told me I had to.

'Her body was frozen to the ground.

'There was no food in the bowl and some of the excrement had plastic bag pieces in it.'