Makayla Swift thought she was just letting her dog Milo out for a walk.
She had no idea that the reason he wanted to get out of the house so badly was so that he could save a life.
Swift said she opened the door and Milo took off running.
“I couldn’t catch him,” she told The Washington Post.
Milo, who had been adopted two years prior, immediately ran across the street and up to their neighbor’s front door.
Milo strangely began scratching at Sherry Starr’s door desperately while barking up a storm.
“I’m thinking, ‘Why is he literally trying to break into her house?’” Swift recalls.
She tried to pull her dog away from the door until she heard a faint cry coming from an upstairs window.
That’s when Swift immediately called 911.
When emergency service personnel arrived they discovered that Starr had woken up just after 4 a.m. when her doorbell rang.
She decided to look out her upstairs bathroom window to see who was there when she fell.
“All of a sudden, standing there between the toilet and the tub, I slipped,” she said. “I went down — hard — on the tile floor.”
The 85-year-old found herself stuck and unable to move.
She also hit her head pretty badly.
“I could not move at all,” said Sherry. “You couldn’t even put a piece of paper between me and the tub. I’m thinking: ‘I’m just going to die here,’”
She yelled for help for the next few hours and hoped to at least get the attention of her mail carrier when she heard the sound of her mailbox being opened.
But Milo showed up instead.
The paramedics thought they would have to remove the toilet to get Starr out but were able to dislodge her on the last try.
She was pretty banged up and bruised, but otherwise OK. Who knows how long she would have remained stuck if it wasn’t for Milo coming to the rescue.
It is believed that Milo’s heightened ability as a dog to hear higher frequencies allowed him to hear Starr’s cries.
Milo was hailed as a hero and awarded with a certificate as well as a basket of toys and vegan treats by PETA.
“When this dog sensed that his vulnerable neighbor needed urgent help, he led his guardian straight to her doorstep,” PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien told WJLA. “PETA hopes this story inspires people to consider adopting an animal from their local shelter, where so many clever, loving, and tenacious dogs like Milo are waiting for a family to join.”
Swift says that Milo has been a “huge blessing” in her life and that she falls in love with him each and every day.
But then again, everyone loves Milo.
“He’s really, really full of energy,” said Swift’s grandmother, Lavelette White. “He loves people. Everybody that knows him loves him. He’s just so cute and sweet.”
Learn more about Milo’s heroic story in the video below.
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