100 Dogs Who Changed Civilization by Sam Stall Page B

lives alone, he decided to have Belle trained as a medical assistance dog. A nine-month, $9,000 course taught the tiny beagle how to gauge her master’s blood sugar level by licking his nose and smelling his breath once each hour. If things seem a bit “off,” she whines and paws at Weaver, letting him know that he needs to take action.
    This costly, lengthy training regimen paid off on the morning of February 7, 2006. On that fateful day, Weaver awoke feeling woozy. His blood sugar was dangerously low, but he was too befuddled torealize what was wrong. But Belle
did
realize, and grew very agitated. Thinking all she wanted was to go to the bathroom, Weaver escorted her outside. But when the two of them came back indoors, Weaver collapsed on the floor of his kitchen.
    He might have died there, had Belle not remembered another important part of her training: In case her master was ever incapacitated, she’d been shown how to dial 911 on a phone by chomping down on the numeral 9, which was programmed to call emergency services. Belle located Weaver’s cell phone, then gnawed on the appropriate key until an emergency dispatcher came on the line. The dog barked hysterically into the handset and didn’t stop until an ambulance arrived. Weaver was treated in time and made a full recovery. And Belle, needless to say, became a hero. “I am convinced that if Belle wasn’t with me that morning, I wouldn’t be alive today,” Weaver told the Associated Press. “Belle is more than just a lifesaver; she’s my best friend.”

DORADO
THE DOG WHO SAVED HIS
MASTER ON 9/11

    The tragedy of 9/11 produced countless examples of courage in the face of danger, but few tales of self-sacrifice and steadfast bravery rival that of Dorado, a four-year-old Labrador retriever. Dorado served as a guide dog for blind computer technician Omar Eduardo Rivera. On the fateful morning of the terrorist attacks, he and his canine companion were working on the seventy-first floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower. Dorado was asleep under Rivera’s desk.
    A hijacked airliner struck the skyscraper twenty-five stories above Rivera’s office. Though he wasn’t injured, he was soon surrounded by the sounds of panic and the smell of smoke. Fearing that, given his disability, he had no chance of escaping the fire and chaos, Rivera unleashed Dorado (which means “gold” in Spanish), gave him a final pat on the head, and bid him farewell, hoping the dog would find a way to save himself. “Not having any sight, I knew I wouldn’t be able to run down the stairs and through all the obstacles like other people,” Rivera told the
Contra Costa Times
. “I was resigned to dying and decided to free Dorado and give him a chance to escape. It wasn’t fair that we should both die in that hell.”
    Rivera figured that Dorado would dash for the nearest escape route. But though his master seemed resigned to death, Dorado had other ideas. A couple of minutes after his release, he returned to Rivera’s side and started nudging him toward an emergency staircase that was already crammed with fleeing office workers. There, with the aid of Rivera’s boss, who happened to pass by at just the right moment, the steadfast dog led Rivera on an hour-long descent down seventy flights to the street. The three then walked several blocks, reaching safety only moments before the tower collapsed behind them. “It was then that I knew for certain he loved me just as much as I loved him,” Rivera said. “He was prepared to die in the hope he might save my life. I owe my life to Dorado—my companion and best friend.”

BUOY
THE DOG WHO WAS LITERALLY
A GUARDIAN ANGEL

    Dragica Vlaco owes her life to an act of God—or, more accurately, an act of dog.
    It happened on an October evening in 2002, while Jim Simpson hosted a Halloween party at his home in Richland, Washington.