Has your dog ever saved your life?

I love to hear a good story, and I'm sure there are a few out there. Not every dog is a 'Lassie', but I'm sure there are some out there.

My dogs have never saved my life in the sense of a Lassie rescue. They have saved my life though in that they gave me emotional support, unconditional love, tears of happiness and joy, thousands of laughs, stuck with me through thick and thin, gave me a shoulder to cry on, were there when no one else was, warm puppy kisses in the morning, tails wagging fiercly every time I come home...the list goes on. In that sense, they have saved my life http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/smile.gif

Our little tibetan spaniel, Angel, saved a small child's life. The child had wandered into the middle of a busy road...just around a blind corner...on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Only Angel saw the child there... as she was watching thro' the fence. She barked & barked in the strangest way that spoke of mortal danger. I thought that a snake had got her & came running. But Angel's focus was on the tiny child...she was frantic. I rushed onto the road & carried the child to safety. Just as I got her to the footpath (pavement?), a big van sped around the corner. But for Angel, that child would have been killed. Angel was nominated for a Canine Hero Award with the Canine Council of New South Wales for doing this.

[This message has been edited by Angels3 (edited May 20, 2001).]

Merlin has never saved my life but he may some day. He knows when I am haveing a too high or too low of blood sugars. I'm diabetic
he has a way of making me get to tht bathroom to test so I know . He NEVER goes there alone that hated bathtub is there. So I know he's picking up on me so I test myself(sometimes it's like I have two husbands). I never trained him for this it just started happening and we found a pattern so now I have a second back up if I miss the clues.

When i was around 3 or 4 i was at my neighbors house swimming they have a dog named Norman he is a 12 yr old cocker spaniel... well i couldnt swim that well yet but i did learn to swim at 2 but not very well and i could swim without swimmys or anything. well i swallowed some watter and almost dround Norman jumped in and pushed me to the side. I think i am Normans fav person because i call him and he comes to me. when he gets out everyone will call him when i call him he comes to me. Norman now lives up in Pasco County and actually tommorow my parents and I are going over their house for dinner. Norman is Charlies dog ( the lil kid i babysite) Charlie can be seen on Simba's website http://kakzrap.homestead.com/SimbaLou.html

When I was younger, probably around 11, I had a lab mix that we had saved from the humane society. One day he got loose and I was brining him home. I heard an evil growl and barking from behind me. I turned around to see a german shepherd coming towards us with teeth showing. I let go of Lucky and told him to run home. He started running away and just as the dog was ready to jump on me, Lucky came from behind and fought him off. I ran home crying but Lucky was not too far behind me and he was not hurt.
When we first moved to Altoona with our Rottie, Kilo, my husband would walk him around to meet people and socialize. One day a guy had a Rottie (one trained to attack) and he was calling our Rottie a "pu_ _ y" dog because he was so friendly. My husband just ignored him. As my husband was walking up the street he heard people yell to look out. When he turned around the trained Rottie was running after them. Well, Kilo took him down in a second and wouldn't let go. My husband had to pull Kilo off of the other dog, after the other dog's owner was there.

[This message has been edited by Stenograsaurus (edited May 20, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Stenograsaurus (edited May 20, 2001).]

I'm with Aly on the emotional support. When I feel down Jeffrey always senses my feelings and comes to me so hyper and full of love, I can't help but get up and play with him or go for a nice long walk. Bandit loves to snuggle and gives me so much love just by being there to hold.

On another note: Our family dog Lucky (1963-1979) saved my father's life. My father is hard of hearing. One day he went for a walk in the woods near our home. He said Lucky started barking and acting strange. Everytime he tried to walk down the path Lucky would jump in front of him and bark. He tried to go around but Lucky grabbed his pant leg. He realized something was wrong and looked around closely. On the path ahead was a rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike. My father didn't hear the warning rattles. He had his rifle with him and was able to kill the rattlesnake before he was bitten. If anyone knows anything about rattlesnakes you can appreciated this: the snake was 6'1/2" with 18 rattles and a button. From the tracks he left on the path our neighbors recognized it as the same snake that had been killing their rabbits and chickens. Lucky, although gone, is still my hero!

[This message has been edited by Genia (edited May 21, 2001).]

Iv'e read about a few dog stories about the breed of dog Im getting, a Tollar. As It's owner and the dog were taking a hike up into the mountains, the owner saw a ledge with a beautiful vista.So as she walked over she slipped.The dog braces it's self againstthe rock, and pulled it's owner up to safety! Now thats bravery!

These stories are wonderful! I have had Cassie less then a year and she has not saved my life, or had any opportunity to but I think she would give it grand effort if the opportunity came up.

Graham has not saved my life in a "Lassie" sort of way but he helped me through a very bad depression my 2nd year of college. One day I woke with a pain in my ear, and at the time I did not have any health insurance so I ignored it for a couple days. The pain got worse and moved to the other ear also, and so I scraped together any money that I could and went to the doctor. He looked in my ears and told me that I had a pretty severe ear infection in both ears and since I could not pay for any antibiotics he would give me enough free samples to wipe out this infection. The strange thing is I had never even had a mild ear infection, even as a baby. So anyway the infection got worse and worse...the antibiotics did nothing. I grew very scared and depressed. I applied for a credit card so I could go to the doctor again because I was so broke and so was my mother and I felt bad asking her for money because I know she could not afford it. So I began charging doctor bills and not being able to pay for any bills. The ear infection got worse. The doctor told me that he thinks I needed to have surgical tubes put in my ears. This was scary because I had no money and I had never had surgery before and I was terrified. I tried several different kinds of antibiotics, no luck. I began to lose my hearing and it got so bad that even when I sat in the front row in the lecture hall I could not hear my professer. I was failing all of my classes because I could not hear the professors and I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get my hearing back. I was horrified. Graham was the only thing that kept me sane. He taught me that everything would be ok and I have to remain positive, my ears would get better and my hearing would come back. I would come home from class sobbing because I heard nothing that the professor said, my notebook was nearly blank except for the stuff the prof wrote on the chalk board and when I got home I would just hold Graham and sob. He was so dear and he was the only friend I wanted to be with. I was embarressed to be with friends because I could not join in with their conversations. I truly had a handicap and I was ashamed. Graham kept me strong and he kept me from losing my mind. Even though I eventually had to drop all of my classes because of this ear infection and leave Michigan Tech because my grades dropped so low before I dropped the classes I always had Graham to look forward to every morning when I woke up. He was my angel and, although all he gave me was moral support, that was the only thing I needed to help me through that horrifing and depressing time.

I dropped out of college because of my grades, I moved back home with my mom and my faithful friend, Graham, and my infection gradually went away and my hearing started to come back. I don't hear as well as I used to, that infection left a small amount of permenant damage, but I am grateful that it came back and I can once again hear. I don't know what I would have done without Graham and his moral support with his positive energy and happy spirit. He's my hero.