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Two years ago, Lewis Thomas of Calvert City, Kentucky was out hunting when he found a puppy that had been abandoned like trash – literally. The puppy had been tied up in a garbage bag and left for dead. He took the dog home and, with help from a local veterinarian and staff, nursed the dog back to health and grew very attached to him.
He named his new best friend Hunter. Thomas and the dog he rescued became inseparable. Thomas not only saved his life, but gave him a wonderful, loving home and took him to training classes at PetSmart.
Recently, Hunter repaid the favor.
Several months ago Thomas began feeling sick. At the same time, Hunter began behaving unusually.
“My dog kept coming up to me, putting his nose against my chest, pushing real hard and looking up at me,” Thomas explained to WPSD. “When I’d ask him what was wrong, he’d rear his head up real fast and hard to where the top of his nose would hit me in the bottom of my chin.”
The odd behavior went on for several weeks until one night when Hunter awoke Thomas from a deep sleep. “The next thing I knew, he had me by my arm with my wrist in his mouth, pulling me out of the bed,” Thomas said.
Thinking Hunter needed to go outside, Thomas let Hunter lead him outside, his wrist still in the dog’s mouth.
“It could have been 30 seconds; it could have been 30 minutes,” Thomas said. “I really don’t know how long I was standing out here with him but it kind of hit me, ‘Hey, your chest is hurting.’ I was having a hard time breathing.”
Thomas made his way to the hospital where doctors determined he was having a heart attack.
Had it not been for Hunter’s actions that night, Thomas says he likely would be dead.
“So, whoever threw him out, I’d like to punch you in the mouth and I’d like to shake your hand,” says Thomas. “You did me a favor. Your trash was my treasure.”
Since the heart attack, Thomas says Hunter regularly alerts him when his blood pressure is low. The puppy once abandoned in a trash bag and left for dead is now well on his way to becoming a service dog for the man that saved him.
