Dog saves owner's life with Heimlich

By Heraclitus

Okay, not quite, but check out this story from the BBC. A woman was choking to death on a piece of food which she couldn't dislodge by pounding on her own chest, so her dog knocked her to the ground and dislodged the food by jumping on her chest. He then licked her face to keep her from passing out.

"He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest."

Ms Parkhurst is recovering from chest and stomach wounds from Toby's jumping.

"I literally have paw print-shaped bruises on my chest. I'm still a little hoarse, but otherwise I'm OK," she said.

"They say dogs leave a paw print on your heart. He left a paw print on my heart, that's for sure.

"The doctor said I probably wouldn't be here without Toby. I keep looking at him and saying, 'You're amazing'."

This story obviously has a comic element, but what I find amazing is that the dog was able to understand that the woman wasn't able to breathe, understood that this was because a piece of food was stuck in her windpipe, and understood how to dislodge the obstruction. I never would have guessed that dogs (I'm assuming this isn't some kind of dog genius) have such comprehension of our own physiological processes.