A Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy who has a soft spot for youth has one for animals, too.

Pat Harding, the liaison officer for Rogers schools, climbed into his cold water rescue suit earlier this month during the early stages of this season’s largest snowstorm to rescue a 120-pound dog stranded on the Crow River.

It wasn’t Milo or Otis, but rather Dalia, an 8-year-old bull mastiff owned by Wendy Wells and her family of Hassan Township.

The Wells family had been out the day before Feb. 28 looking for the “gentle giant” of an animal.

“And we worried all night,” Wells said.

Their fears were put to rest with a phone call at about 9 a.m. notifying them to bring towels and come pick up their shivering dog.

Dalia was wet, cold and relieved to have been plucked from the icy river after her day-and-one-half-long adventures along and in the river.

Harding and Deputy Greg Felber believe the dog was stranded on the ice overnight. A woman had spotted the dog and called 911 about 8:05 a.m. Harding and Felber, both dog lovers themselves, responded to the Crow River near Highway 101 as a snowstorm that had moved in began to dump about 17 inches of snow in the area.

“We feel pretty lucky,” Wells said of the rescue.

Harding has five years of experience on a water patrol team and another four years on dive team.

Felber held a line connected to his body in the event the he fell into a hole or encountered some other unforeseen obstacle. The liaison officer waded out into thigh-high water making his way across the boulder-lined riverbed.

They talked to the dog as if it were a baby and once Harding broke off enough of the 10-by-15-foot slab of ice to reach the dog, he began addressing Dalia by name.

“When I said her name, her head tilted,” Harding said as he prepared to lug the animal to shore with the help of another safety line. He said the dog was showing signs of hypothermia.

Deputies are trained to weigh all the circumstances before going in after an animal, from the dangers of the river to the potential reaction of the animal, according to Capt. Ken Schilling of the department.

“If we can effect the rescue with a relative amount of safety for the deputies effecting the rescue, we will,” Schilling said. “In this case the stars were in alignment with Harding and his experience.”

His love for dogs helped, too.

The Wells family, which lives off of County Road 144, is grateful for their gentle giant.

“She will climb in your lap if you let her,” Wells said of the mild-mannered, yet ferocious-looking beast.

The Wells family hunkered down in their Hassan Township home when school let out early that day and remained closed on that Friday from the snow.

“We were so happy to have her home,” Wells said, noting her 2-year-old and 7-year-old were particularly relieved. “We believe she was in good hands (when she was rescued).”

She was.