Loyal Dog Prevents Suicide, is Hailed as Hero
A loyal dog is being heralded as a hero for preventing its owner from committing suicide. The dog managed to save its owner's life by reacting to her actions when she planned to shoot herself.
The 63-year-old woman fired several shots from her 22-calibre rifle before turning the gun on herself. That's when the dog literally leapt into action, police said.
"At the moment she pulled the trigger, her dog jumped on her and diverted the shot," a local officer told The Telegraph. The dog "probably sensed things and knocked into her to save her," the policeman added.
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While the woman succeeded in shooting herself, the dog's impact was enough to skew the shot away from the heart. Instead of causing instant death, the woman was found injured but fully conscious by her husband. She was taken to the hospital to receive treatment but is expected to make a full recovery.
Meanwhile, the German Shepherd is being praised for its quick thinking and response to the situation. Of course, there are many people who believe animals can sense human emotion and will react accordingly. While there is no scientific evidence, there are plenty of examples of animals reacting to human conditions in a unique manner.
"The case against animals being able to pick up on our mood and mindset is based on lack of confirmatory evidence as opposed to conclusive evidence to the contrary. I suppose it would be very difficult for some folks to accept that dogs, or any animals, might have minds that work in ways similar to our own," wrote Dr. Nicholas Dodman.
Yet dogs have proven to be heroes in certain situations; they are used to track the human scent and often provide comfort or therapy to those who are depressed or suffer from mental illness.
Just days ago a dog was given credit for saving the life of a 3-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Poland. A stray dog spent the night curled around the child in freezing temperatures until rescuers found her the following morning.
"For the whole night the animal was with the girl, it never left her," fireman Grzegorz Szymanski told the BBC. "Remember, it was 5 degrees below zero and the child was wet."
