Beagle Saves Owners Life Saturday, Jul 29 2006 

Animals In The News B 3:57 pm

Another heart warming story from MSN.com! I have another new sponsor as well! A big warm Thank You to Jill!

Dog makes cell phone call to save owner’s life
Beagle receives award after dialing 911 when man suffered seizure

Updated: 1:56 p.m. ET June 20, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla. – A 17-pound beagle named Belle is more than man’s best friend. She’s a lifesaver.

Belle was in Washington, D.C., on Monday to receive an award for biting onto owner Kevin Weaver’s cell phone to call 911 after the diabetic man had a seizure and collapsed.

“There is no doubt in my mind that I’d be dead if I didn’t have Belle,” said Weaver, 34, whose blood sugar had dropped dangerously low. Belle had been trained to summon help in just those circumstances. She had been taught to bite down on the number 9 on his cell phone contacting 911.

Belle was the first canine recipient to win the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award, given to someone who used a cell phone to save a life, prevent a crime or help in an emergency.

Using their keen sense of smell, animals like Belle can detect abnormalities in a person’s blood-sugar levels. The dog periodically licks Weaver’s nose to take her own reading of his blood-sugar level. If something seems off to her, she will paw and whine at him.

“Every time she paws at me like that I grab my meter and test myself,” Weaver said. “She’s never been wrong.”

 

Dog Helps Save Boy On Roof Saturday, Jul 29 2006 

Animals In The News B 11:29 am

I found this story yesterday while looking around MSN.com. Animals are more then just pets, they are protectors and friends. Have any of you been helped or saved by an animal? If so comment about it or just leave a comment anyway!

Dog helps save toddler during roof escapades
Boy climbed out of second-story window and German shepherd followed

Updated: 6:58 p.m. ET July 17, 2006
PHILADELPHIA – A toddler who climbed out a second-story window onto the porch roof of his family’s row house was followed by his dog, whose barks alerted neighbors who rescued the child.

Phillip Redmond Jr., who will be 2 years old next month, apparently climbed out of a broken bedroom window Sunday and scampered across the narrow porch rooftops of at least eight homes, neighbors said.

The row homes have connected porch roofs; neighbors heard barking and saw the boy running from roof to roof followed by the family’s German shepherd, Alfie.

“He was following the baby across,” neighbor Tina Mitchell told WPVI-TV. “He was protecting the baby, making sure the baby was all right.”

A neighbor, Shavyonn Robinson, was able to grab the toddler from the porch roof of a home a few doors down. The footprints of Phillip and Alfie could be seen in the blacktop coating on the porch roofs.

“First I had my hand sticking out (of the window) trying to grab him,” she said. “That’s when he tried to run past, because he thought I was playing with him, and he almost fell so I had to go out and get him.”

Police questioned the toddler’s parents, Phillip Redmond and Katie Berkelback, but no charges have been filed. Child welfare officials placed the boy in the care of relatives while the incident is investigated, said the boy’s father, adding that he was embarrassed but grateful that his son was fine.

“It was my fault,” he said. “I didn’t think he could get out there.”