Posted: September 16, 2008, 5 a.m. EDT
Buddy the dog is earning accolades – and a whole lot of media attention – this week for saving his owner by calling 911.
The German Shepherd Dog called 911 when owner Joe Stalnaker had a seizure last week. Stalnaker, who suffered a head injury more than a decade ago during a military exercise, had trained Buddy to use the specially made phone – which dials 911 when any button is pressed for more than three seconds – when he got the dog as a puppy 18 months ago.
The police could hear Buddy barking and whimpering into the phone and arrived at Stalnaker’s Scottsdale, Ariz., home 20 minutes later. Stalnaker spent two days in the hospital recovering.
“It’s pretty incredible,” said Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark to the Arizona Republic. “Even the veteran dispatchers – they haven’t heard of anything like this.”
Stalnaker told Arizona TV station KTVK that Buddy is “his world. He’s my best friend, no question. He’s always there, and I just hope I can be as good to him as he’s been to me.”