Dog Dials 911!

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| Print | By | September 29, 2008 3:54 PM

Buddy the German shepherd recently dialed 911 to call for help when his owner Joe Stalnaker of Scottsdale, Arizona suffered a seizure. The dispatcher heard only whimpering and barking, and sent the police. Joe’s address was flagged in the Scottsdale’s system that an assistance dog dials 911 when the owner cannot.

Buddy’s owner suffered a head injury about ten years ago during a training exercise in the US military, resulting in seizures. While the police and dispatchers had never seen such a thing, this was the third or fourth time he rescued his owner with a call. The 18-month-old dog has been trained to repeatedly press a programmed button until a 911 operator is on the line. Joe considers Buddy his key to independence—and he’s not alone.

Buddy came from Michigan-based “Paws with a Cause” which trains assistance dogs. But Buddy is not the first canine taught to dial for help. I had the pleasure to interview DebbieLynn of http://www.cosettescloset.com/ for two of my books, about her tiny service dog, Cosette.

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DebbieLynn & Cosette

The former model survived a horrible car accident, but as a result of side effects from the treatment, suffers from migraines, secondary hemophilia, heart irregularities, lung issues and both hearing and vision loss. She loved dogs but was advised her health would prevent her from having any dog that shed or that was larger than about 2-1/2 pounds.

Enter Cosette, the Yorkie. The immediate connection between the pair made the dog want to help. With training, Cosette learned to alert DebbieLynn to a migraine or even heart irregularities in advance, so she can take medicine in time. The dog also serves as a hearing-alert dog, and warns her about people or objects approaching from her blind spots. Cosette also knows how to find the pressure point to stop bleeding, sometimes before DebbieLynn realizes she’s bleeding.

If that isn’t enough, sometimes when she sleeps DebbieLynn’s heart stops altogether. Cosette leaps onto her chest to get it started again. And if that doesn’t work, Cosette dials 911. She’s been trained to dial 911 on any push-button phone, tapping out the individual three numbers, so she can call for help anytime, anywhere, from anybody’s phone. Cosette has dialed for help and saved DebbieLynn’s life more than thirty times so far.

What do you think about these incredible stories? Have any life-saving experiences with dogs yourself? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

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