A Des Moines church pastor thought his dog had died, after a fire broke out in his church last Friday. Miraculously, Rev. David Reasby found his beloved dog, Lil Bit, alive yesterday.

The tiny Chihuahua followed arson inspectors out of the burned building, shocking everyone.

"She was hungry, thirsty, dirty, her eyes were matted, but she survived," Reasby told the Des Moines Register this morning.

Lil Bit has been a part of Reasby's family for 10 years, and the pastor even contemplated buying a cross and flowers to place outside the building for the dog over the weekend, he said.

"I cried," Reasby said of seeing the dog alive. "You hear about people who love their animals like their children, like a part of their families. That's what Lil Bit was to us, a member of the family."

• church
• arson
• fire
• survival
• Chihuahua