Buddy dials 9-1-1 and saves his human ... again
PHOENIX - "Man's best friend" doesn't go far enough for Buddy - a German shepherd who remembered his training and saved his owner's life by calling 9-1-1 when the man had a seizure.
PHOENIX - "Man's best friend" doesn't go far enough for Buddy - a German shepherd who remembered his training and saved his owner's life by calling 9-1-1 when the man had a seizure.
And it's not the first time Buddy has been there for owner Joe Stalnaker, a police officer said yesterday.
On a recording of the 9-1-1 call Wednesday, Buddy is heard whimpering and barking after the dispatcher answers and repeatedly asks if the caller needs help.
"Hello, this is 9-1-1. Hello . . . Can you hear me? Is there somebody there you can give the phone to," says the dispatcher, Chris Scott.
Police were sent to Stalnaker's home, and after about three minutes Buddy is heard barking loudly when the officers arrived.
Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said that Stalnaker spent two days in a hospital and recovered from the seizure.
"It's pretty incredible," Clark said. "Even the veteran dispatchers - they haven't heard of anything like this."
Clark said that police are dispatched whenever 9-1-1 is called but that Stalnaker's address was flagged in Scottsdale's system with a notification that a trained assistance dog could call 9-1-1 when the owner was incapacitated.
Clark said that Stalnaker adopted Buddy at the age of 8 weeks from Michigan-based Paws with a Cause, which trains assistance dogs, and trained him to get the phone if he began to have seizure symptoms. Buddy, now 18 months old, is able to press programmed buttons until a 9-1-1 operator is on the line, Clark said.
Clark said that Buddy has made two other 9-1-1 calls when Stalnaker was having seizures.
He said that Stalnaker's seizures are the result of a head injury he suffered about 10 years ago during a military training exercise.
Stalnaker was not listed in the phone book, and he did not immediately respond to a request through police for an interview. *
