It’s not uncommon for dogs to save their humans’ lives. In fact, it seems as if the phenomenon is becoming less of a phenomenon and more of the norm. A few years ago, a rescue dog named TaterTot kept running back and forth between his adoptive mom, Christi, and Christi’s young son, Payton’s, room.
Christi thought he was playing at first, but then he just wouldn’t stop. Christi decided to check out what TatorTot was so frantic about, and when she opened Payton’s room, she discovered that he was barely conscious and hardly able to breathe. Christi rushed Payton to the E.R., where she discovered that his blood sugar levels were dangerously low.
In 2011, a 12-year-old Shih-Tzu named Babu decided, one day, that she wanted to go for a walk. Her 83-year-old owner, Tami, was astounded–it had been years since Babu wanted to do anything that required much more than getting from her bed to her food bowl.
Tami took Babu out for what she thought was a walk around the block, but then Babu proceeded to lead her up a hill. When Tami turned around, she saw a flood of water rushing at her. Babu had detected the tsunami and gotten Tami out of the house just in time.
There are countless stories about dogs who save their owners on the internet today, yet each is as heartwarming and awe-inspiring as the last. The story of Victoria the coonhound and her adoptive mom, Lauren Gauthier, is no different.
Lauren has always been a huge fan of coonhounds, which is why she felt compelled to start a rescue organization called Magic’s Mission Beagle & Hound Rescue. Though she cared for all the coons that came to her shelter, she was particularly drawn to Victoria, a Treeing Walker Coonhound with only one eye. She took Victoria home, and from then on, the two were inseparable.
Still, when Victoria took a peculiar interest in Lauren’s nose, Lauren thought that the attention was a bit off. Victoria kept indicating at a small red dot on Lauren’s face, and while Lauren took no heed at first, she thought that the attention was so odd that she decided to get the spot checked out. Thank God she did.
It turns out that that small red dot was actually a basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer.
“It really is amazing that my dog was so persistent in sniffing the area that was skin cancer. The surgery itself has changed my face, and if my dog had not picked up on it, I may have ignored the spot, which could have risked further disfigurement. Hounds have a keen sense of smell, but I never thought that I would personally benefit from it!”
Thanks to Victoria’s persistence, the spot was removed before it had a chance to metastasize to other areas of the body. It has yet to resurface. Lauren is using the opportunity to spread awareness about the dangers of frequenting tanning beds, something she did often prior to her skin cancer scare.
“The cost and the damage you do to your skin is way too high, and even though growing older seems a world away, once you are older, you will pay a price for tans and tanning beds.”
Lauren is forever grateful to her adopted coonhound, telling LoveWhatReallyMatters,
“What is particularly rewarding is that I adopted her through the rescue that I founded, and devote much of my life to saving hounds who have been abused or neglected. It seems Victoria and her keen skills are the way that the hounds decided to give back to me.”
Dogs continue to impress us on a daily basis, and thankfully for people like Lauren, they do.
To learn more about this amazing story, check out the video below.
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