Firefighters tied ladders together over the icy river and crawled to the golden retriever, who was 70 feet off shore.
"We were already advised that the dog had been in there for a good 20 minutes, and you could tell because the circumference of the ice, the way he tried to fight himself out was a good 20 feet in circumference. He just couldn't seem to get himself out of the water," said firefighter Bill Moccia.
Gigi's rescuers say she was calm and cooperative, and seemed to know they were there to save her.
The shivering dog was quickly wrapped in a blanket and is said to be OK despite having been in the water for so long. Twenty minutes officials say might have been Gigi's last, if not for the city's brave firefighters.
MORE L.A. BREAKING NEWS, WEATHER, TRAFFIC, SPORTS
USEFUL LINKS:
SEND TIP || REPORT TYPO || TWEET @abc7 || WIDGET