Dog in Alaska Saves Family and Home

Written by Lauren Benton | October 3, 2010 at 4:07 am

Buddy, a five-year-old German Shepherd, led police to a blazing fire at his home this past April. The intelligent canine was honored at a press conference and received a silver-plated dog bowl inscribed with a trooper badge, along with a letter describing his heroic act.

The incident caught national attention when the video from a responding trooper’s dashboard camera showed Buddy leading the officer to the location of the fire.

“Normally, we honor our trained (police) canines,” reported Colonel Audie Holloway, head of the troopers. “But Buddy is an untrained dog, who for some reason recognized the severity of the situation and acted valiantly in getting help for his family.”

Ben Heinrich, Buddy’s owner, was in his workshop when the fire erupted.

“I just told him, ‘we need to get help,’ he told reporters. “I didn’t train him or nothing. He just took off and did what he did…He was just being a good dog.”

“These events need to be recognized,” said Colonel Holloway. “We need to recognize the bonds of a dog and his family, and the value of our animal companions because they care as much about us as we care about them.” (If not more).

This is the second time Buddy has saved Heinrich’s life.
“He chased off a couple of bears for me,” he said. “He’s my hero, if it wasn’t for him, we would have lost our house!”

The responding police officer, Trooper Terrence Shanigan told reporters he was on the way to another emergency when he received the call about the blaze. He could not find the address, however, and his GPS had frozen.

“I saw a shadow and saw it was a dog,” Shanigan said. “From his position and nonverbal cues, it led me to take a left turn and follow him.”

The state trooper followed Buddy all the way to the fire. His actions definitely saved the Heinrich’s home from being totally destroyed. Go watch the video online!

His bravery and intelligence gives us a clue about how smart dogs truly are and their unwavering love and faithfulness to their families.

Written by J. Lauren Benton

(Photo courtesy of Mark Thiessen)

(Source courtesy of Helena Sung www.examiner.com)