A small chihuahua named Thor experienced an eventful morning during the frigid cold Thursday.

The dog — following an escape from his Aurora home —wound up crawling into the engine compartment of a vehicle to shelter from the plummeting temperatures. 

Aurora Fire Rescue Station 6 crews responded to the call that a dog had been trapped in a vehicle around 9 a.m. on Thursday. Following a unique rescue, responders were able to get the dog out of the vehicle unharmed.  

“This is definitely a first for me,” Ladder Truck Captain Tyler Szabo said. “I’ve done quite a few vehicle rescues and they are all unique. I’ve never seen a dog up in an engine block, though.”

A woman spotted Thor walking around the area of East Dartmouth Avenue and South Kalispell Court after dropping her child off at school, according to Szabo. She followed the dog, attempting to stop it. 

The woman eventually lost sight of the pup, stopping to assess the situation. While stopped, another person came up to the vehicle and told her the dog had gone under the car.

Thor had crawled up into the engine block.

Szabo noted that they got an alert that a dog was stuck under a car.

“That’s not what most of us imagined it would be,” he said. “We imagined we’d have to do a vehicle rescue operation, so we sent a ladder truck.”

Upon arrival, Szabo said they could see just a tiny bit of fur peeking from the engine compartment.

The responders used a floor jack to raise the vehicle and used cribbing to hold it up. They sent Lt. Tony Marraudino under to retrieve him. 

Despite being cold and a little nippy, Thor was removed without any injuries to either party.

Cats are often thought to crawl under car hoods and in wheel wells to escape the temperatures, Szabo said, but not often dogs.

“Cats do tend to have the instinct of getting out before the cars about to go. They’re, you know, cat-like,” he joked. “I’ve never witnessed a cat getting stuck like that.”

Aurora Animal Services traced the dog’s microchip and got him home safely.

With weekend temperatures set to hit well-below freezing due to the polar vortex, it’s important to consider pets, according to Szabo.

“If it’s one of those days or nights that it’s cold enough that you wouldn’t be outside in a coat, then you don’t want your animal out there either,” he said.

It’s crucial to keep an eye on temperature regarding dogs, Sarah Ballard of Littleton’s Dog Training Elite told The Denver Gazette in December. If temperatures are in the mid-to-low 20s or lower, dogs shouldn’t be outside longer than 15 minutes. The main danger is frostbite on the paws, she said.

Dogs with shorter coats should wear jackets or sweaters when walked during cold days, Aurora Animal Services noted in a Thursday news release. Booties can also be put on dogs to protect their paws from harsh chemicals used for deicing. 

Drivers should inspect under their cars and in their wheel wells for cats — and possibly dogs evidently — before starting their engines on cold days, according to Catster. People should also bang on their hoods and beep their horns before starting their vehicles to attempt to scare cats out of the structure.

You never know what might be taking shelter from the cold in your vehicle.