Has your GSD ever saved your life?

Two close calls...

Live on acreage in the boonies but have a small one lane road at front of property. I have always walked around at night with the dogs. One night, while walking near the road away from the security light, my boy Po backed into me, nearly knocking me down. He did it again. I could see his face and it was absolutely fixated on something I could not see. I was thinking, at worst, a raccoon or fox. The next thing I knew he stood up in a lunge (big deal for a massive dog, taller than me) and remained on his hind legs. In the next moment, a man stepped out of the darkness at about 6-8 feet from us. I'm certain he did not see Po until that moment (you had to see his face). Po never made a sound until the man showed his face to me, and he was gone in the next moment. I learned later that the man is a convicted violent sex offender in Maryland (now in prison).

Po was a breeder's reject because of "possible" defect on an x-ray at birth and a sherriff's dept reject because they loved how imposing/striking his appearance was but could not make him aggressive enough (he still loves a man in uniform, though). He went back to breeder, was pawned to another guy, and I won't go into detail but I can tell you by the time he got to me, he had suffered a full year of almost total neglect. I would only add that I did not take Po through any kind of security training and he has had only basic obedience in the hands of a professional trainer. Everything else has been my training.

Coming from the car to the house another night, my partner was helping unload the truck. Next thing I know, he's yelling at me to run and he's flat out running around the truck in circles. Of course, I was not in the moment so I hesitated. Next thing I know, here comes the most enraged, sick-looking raccoon you can imagine. Well, I did the worst thing possible. I screamed. Holly was outside in the double kennel which is immediately adjacent to the house (dogs get outside time to play together and have a safe inner kennel that is completely locked down. When I screamed, Holly made every effort to get to me which included ramming her head through 2 metal gates, getting stuck and nearly tearing an ear off. Partner and I made to the house door and got in and door still has deep scratches where the raccoon tried to follow us. No question in my mind that it was rabid as our area had a terrible outbreak of cases in the weeks earlier from multiple animals. My vet was impressed with Holly's efforts, and my vet's bill was quite impressive but not, I think, as impressive as an ER visit, Rabies series, dealing with animal control, etc. I'm very grateful.

We live in the country, and sometimes safety of ones self can be iffy since there really isn't many neighbors to watch out for each other...But one night as DF was working his 3rd shift, it was about 2:30am and there was a big knock on the door. Me being alone, and a female I dared not open that door, it was just a bad feeling, and he kept knocking and by that time Elle was in the window growling barking showing her teeth, Emma wasn't even here yet though. I looked out the front bedroom window to get a better view, when I noticed there was a light flashing in, he was trying to look in and what-not, and Elle Kept fighting and being very aggressive, and he left...I believe if it had not been for Elle, that the man would have broken in, and from that point I don't want to think about what might have happened, it was very frightening. It happened again after we got Emma, she was 9 months at the time, and she knew what to do, and her aggressivness came out then.

Okay, I have a list. Keep in mind that I'll be 47 in the fall and have spent my entire life with GSDs so about a half century of relationships.

The first dog to save me was my father's prize stud, Rex. I was not much older than Trip and in my basinet. The radiator in the room was old and leaky so my parents had had it worked on the day before. Unfortunately it burst and live steam was hitting my basinet. It was only a matter of time before I would've been scalded to death. Rex was sleeping near me and grabbed the basinet in his mouth and tugged it out of the way and then ran for my mother. Mom saw what had happened and that the basinet had been moved and had teeth marks in it. Rex, was already a senior dog then but even in his final years he would walk between me and the road as I learned to walk outside and if I strayed too close to the road he'd nudge me away from it.

The next dog to save me was Max. I've told his tale before here but I'll recap. He saved me from a bear attack out west when he was barely a year old. We woke up to a grizzly tearing the tent apart and Max flung himself at the bear biting it on the nose. I ran for a nearby large tree while Max ran in and out at the bear delaying it from being able to run me down. When I was safe he looked up at me and ran off over the hill. When the bear left about a half an hour or more later he came back and we flew out of there to a vet to bind his wounds caused by the bear's claws raking his side.

Max saved me again when he was 6. I woke up to being dragged across the floor by my t-shirt and a smoke filled room. The chimney had caught fire. I got my housemates up and we escaped as the house burned down. We'd all have died but for Max. How he was going to get me out the door I have no idea but he was going to try. Fortunately being dragged was enough to get me awake from the smoke inhalation.

Max saved me a final time two weeks before he died at the age of 12. I don't know if I would've died then but I certainly could've. I went to a drive-up ATM at about midnight on a Saturday night. A young guy came out from around the machine and put a pistol in my face and said to take out all the money. I took out all I could and as I was handing it too him my old boy woke up from his nap in the backseat and realized dad was upset and some guy wasn't supposed to be there. He reached out the open window and bit the guy's gun hand causing him to drop both the gun and the money as he ran away thinking the dog would be after him. Max was way too old for that but he made it easy to identify the guy. Four puncture wounds on his hand and the video from the bank camera made it an airtight case.

Odin too has saved me. When all seemed lost - my family, the love of my life, my career, and suffering seriously from PTSD I sat one day with a pistol in my hand and thought about ending it all. I saw Odin come into the room and realized I couldn't abandon him though I felt abandoned myself and I put the gun away never to bring it out for that purpose again. Later my life turned completely around and I'm happier today than I ever dreamed of. I owe that all to Odin and more. He saved me one other time that I will not detail here now. As personal as all that I have related is this tale is profoundly personal. I will save it for the day hopefully long years from now when Odin passes on as final tribute to him. Suffice it to say that these dogs saved my life most certainly, but Odin saved my very soul.

My GSD that I grew up with as a child. Daisy. Two men came to the door at night. The wanted in the house to use the phone. Daisy just about brought my brother to his knees (my brother was huge). Trying to get to the men. The men were scared and ran.
My Mom was suspious and called the police. The police said they had just held up a woman at gun point down the street.
She always sensed people with bad intentions.

When I was little I love to explore the woods behind our house (without mom's permission of course). Daisy was always there to protect me. I was falling down a hill one time and she pulled me up by turning so a could grab her tail. I got up looked down the hill and there was a snake.

Even though Shadow has only been here 4 months and all his troubles, I see him keeping an eye on my family already.

I have had my life saved twice by Cody. I wont go into major detail about the first story but lets just say I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Cody. I suffer from major depression and without his help on that day, I might not have been here. He looked at me with those noble eyes, layed his head on my lap and started to whine as if saying don't go mom, I need you. And from that day, I vowed to not do anything to myself again.

Another one was when I was in the back yard trying to clip those pokey bushes away, well I missjudged a step on an area that was above the bushes and I fell right into the heaviest part of the bush and was stuck there trying to get out. I was very bloody since I was trying to get out. No one was around to help me get out and I was screaming my head off for help. It took cody a while to get into the yard, about a half hour and came rushing through the gate area and throws himself into the pokey bush head first. I was barely able to grab his collar since I was tired of trying to get out and it was about 97 degrees. I was to weak and so he grabed my shirt and dragged me out. He pulled me to the house and I then passed out in front of the door, after that I remember waking up and touching Cody and he was laying there licking my wounds. He had thorns in every place you could imagine. After another 30min my mom finally realized I wasn't back and came out and saw me and Cody and called for my dad to rush Cody to the vets and then my mom who was able to get all the thorns out of me and clean my wounds up. Cody is most certainly my hero.

I was waiting in the car for my husband one day a couple years ago and Zeus was laying on the back seat, we had a caddillac at the time and he was stretched right out snoozing. Suddenly he lifted his head and growled, low he continued to alternately growl, and listen. I looked around but didn't see or hear anything. He then got up and wedged himself between the front seats, on top of the armrest, and turned to face the rear passenger window. It was such an akward position I asked him what are you doing? He glanced at me, and resumed glaring out the window, still growling, and I looked and saw a man standing there, side to, nearly touching the car. Zeus had put himself directly between me and that man. The man slowly moved away from the car, never looking back at us, and went and lay down on the lawn between the parking lot we were in I was parked next to. He glanced over at us once, then got up and walked away down the street. Zeus never took his eyes off that man, and continued to watch for a few minutes after he dissapeared, then he was satified and returned to the back seat and lay down again. I dont know what the man's intentions were, but Zeus growled a while before the man appeared, he must have been lurking there where I couldnt see him...but Zeus knew and put himself between me and the potential danger. He had never acted that way ever before or ever again afterwards. He was normally indifferent to strangers as long as one of us was there. It blew me away. I'm very grateful he was there.
I love these stories! It just confirms what we all know about GSD's doesn't it.

Our first GSD Stella, saved my sis from a drowning once. We live in a tropical country, and it gets very hot most days, so one weekend we went to a waterfall to cool off. My sis at the time, only 3 or 4 years old, and was very happy to follow my brother of about 5 years old, exploring the falls when we weren't watching. She fell into the water from the rocks, and could not get out of the current. Stella jumped right in, and grabbed her out of the water, at the time she was only 7 months old...

She has saved me twice, on my night runs. One of the trails we usually go to after work, has several dark spots. At one of the turns, she made a dead stop in front of me, and growled into the trees. She absolutely refuse to let me move forward, and kept me behind her. A man then steps out of the shadows, and runs off. We find out later that he was arrested for the rape and murder of a woman, found just off the very same trail. We don't go there anymore.

The second time was when we went for our early morning walk. As we were walking, she insistently kept putting herself on the traffic side, and at the same time shoving me on to the grass. She was being defensive, kept looking backwards every few steps. Soon after she barked furiously, and two boys on a bike tried to snatch my gold chain, but didn't manage to, because Stella really pushed me onto the grass, and the boys didn't get a good grip. I would have died, I believe, that evening, had they managed to get a good grip on the chain...

Sadly, Stella has been stolen, and we are still trying to find her, almost a year from the date she was taken. Anouc, our new baby in the house, is equally protective, and I have no doubt, that she too, will keep us safe from harm. Recently, I have been depressed to the point of thinking of doing stupid things to myself, and she knows just when I need her company and love... All she has to do is come and sit with me, and look at me with her eyes that tells me she really does care about me, and that has saved me from doing some very silly things. I realize now that I cannot abandon her!

ps - some of these stories are really tear-wrenching!