Animals can often sense danger and illness, even when their human family members are oblivious.
Kelly Dowling of Glastonbury, Connecticut, shared a story on Twitter about her dog, a Boston terrier named Henry, whose “irritating” behavior helped save her baby’s life. It all started when Kelly put her infant daughter down to rest in her crib.
The baby girl had a bad cold, but Kelly didn’t think much of the congestion she heard in her nose and throat. When Henry kept using his “battering ram” head to shove his way into the nursery, Kelly was annoyed. She repeatedly chastised the dog for disturbing the baby, but after the fifth time he did it, she realized something wrong.
“This time, he woke her up and when she started crying, I knew there was something wrong with the way she was crying,”Kelly explained. “She didn’t sound right. So I took her downstairs and she was struggling to get air. The fact that he was so persistent and he didn’t go hide or stop when I told him to stop, he had to have known or maybe smelled something or heard something.â€
The panicked mom rushed her daughter to Connecticut Children’s Hospital, where a doctor used suction to remove all of the congestion making it hard for the baby to breathe. She’s expected to make a full recovery and is already feeling better, but Kelly and her family were rattled just thinking about what might have happened if Henry had not been so persistent.
“Henry has spent the last two days being treated like the king of the castle, which–if I’m honest–is no different than any other day,” Kelly shared on Twitter a few days after the incident. He has already gotten all of his Christmas goodies early, too.
Henry is the ultimate good boy! This smart pooch wasn’t about to let tragedy strike on his watch. As Kelly said on Twitter, “we don’t deserve dogs!”
Share this story to remind people not to ignore the instincts of their four-legged family members. You just never know when their super senses might come in handy.
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