Finnish hero dogs honored for life-saving acts

This year, the Finnish Kennel Club recognizes 17 dogs as hero dogs. What the animals have in common is that they have saved the life of one or more people in some way.

Every year, the Finnish Kennel Club awards the title “Hero Dog” to dogs that have made a significant contribution to saving lives. This year, most of the awards go to dogs that found a person in distress, but also dogs that warned of fire and disease.

– Dogs are capable of many heroic deeds and are brave, loyal and understanding. These qualities make them unique companions and every dog is a hero to its owner, said Pirjo Onza, Executive Director of the Kennel Club in a press release.

Gaapo the German Shepherd woke up his owners in the morning by barking. When they didn’t get up, the dog tore off their covers, which eventually made them get up. When they went through the house, they found the owner’s elderly mother unconscious on the floor. The woman had suffered an epileptic seizure and had several more while waiting for an ambulance. The woman later recovered in hospital.

Mörri the Labrador Retriever was living in a foster home waiting for a family of his own. In the middle of the night, the dog started barking incessantly, the foster owner tried to go back to sleep but Mörri continued to bark. When the foster owner finally got up, he saw a fire in the neighbor’s house and ran over to wake them up, while his wife called the emergency services. Help arrived in time and no one was injured by the fire.

Remarkable efforts

In the morning, the mixed-breed dogs Bella and Pablo woke up their master and stood staring at him. He then got up and felt his jaw hurt and vomited several times while the dogs followed and refused to leave his side. When he woke up his wife, they called an ambulance and found that the man had suffered a heart attack, which was detected in time thanks to the dogs.

Domi, a Dutch shepherd dog, woke up his owner in the middle of the night. Domi ran to the front door and the owner thought the dog urgently needed to go out, but when the owner opened the door there was an unconscious person outside. The person was unresponsive and the owner called the emergency services. Domi kept an eye on the person the whole time while waiting for the ambulance. The person was then helped at the hospital.

The other dogs receiving the award are Isla the Miniature Pinscher, Nella and Nemo the mixed breeds, Sisu the mixed breed, Pullan the mixed breed and Laila, a Border Collie, who warned her owners about fire. Sulo the Rottweiler, Nemo, a red Irish setter, Into, a golden retriever, Daisy the Labrador retriever and Ande the Belgian shepherd who found people in distress. Alvin the Havanese alerted when a person fell into the water and was drowning.