A dog has saved the life of a three-year-old girl in Poland according to news reports. The BBC reported that the child, Julia, went missing from her house in Poland during freezing temperatures. Julia went missing on Friday and was found lying in marshes a few kilometres from her house the next morning with a dog next to her.

Grzegorz Szymanski said that the dog kept the child warm enough to survive. She is now recuperating in a hospital after suffering frostbite. There were more than 200 people searching for the child overnight.

"For the whole night the animal was with the girl, it never left her. Remember, it was 5 degrees below zero and the child was wet," he said to the BBC.

The BBC reported that the last time her parents saw her she was palying in the backyard with the dog. It's believed that she spent house wandering through a forest near her home. She was eventually found after firefighters heard her crying for her mother.

Isciencetimes.com reported that the stray dog's name is Czarue and without the dog, Julia would have died in the cold.

"This dog is the most important part of this story, he is a hero," Szymonowski said to Isciencetimes.com. "It is thanks to this dog that the girl survived the night. We ran around 500 meters, and there was silence. We stood to listen further and we heard the dog and later the crying of a child. We went in the direction and saw the child lying in the shrubs, she was wet because there was water in the forest."

Having survived a harrowing night, Julia and her new dog Czarue are now the best of friends.

Julia's grandmother said to Isciencetimes.com that Julia and the dog which was used to be a stray were always together.

"She was with this dog all the time. She didn't go anywhere without it, she said to Isciencetimes.com "When she was with me, when I was looking after her, she constantly said, 'Granny, the dog needs to come in the house.' And she told me to cut bread and she fed it all the time."

Doctors at the hospital at Zielona Gora hospital said she has swollen hands and feet. Dr. Kazimeira Barczyk said to Isciencetimes.com

. "A surgeon inspected this and prescribed ointments. The next few days will show if there is some deeper frostbite, or just surface changes.

"This dog which was with her most probably kept her warm. It lay down next to her when she fell asleep. She was walking and walking, and fell asleep when she got tired. The child was brought just before eight o'clock, at the beginning she was scared of people, and she was in shock. At the moment her mother is going through a lot of stress."