Pets- Dogs- How our dog saved our daughter

by Cara Boynton
(Lexington,Texas, USA)

Our dog, Porthos

Our dog, Porthos

Our dog is truly an amazing part of our family. We adopted him when he was only six weeks old. We brought him home to our family, which consists of my husband and I and two daughters, one of which is mentally and physically challenged.
We wanted a dog for a long time, but knew we had to be careful in our selection due to our daughter. We wanted to get a puppy so the puppy would grow up around our daughter. If we got a grown dog, we would not know how it would react to children.
The dog we found was half German Shepherd and half Boxer. He was so good from the very start. Not only smart, but very gentle with the kids. About a year after we got our dog, our youngest daughter, who is mentally challenged, suffered a seizure. Our dog, whose name is Porthos, ran to her and began barking. He licked her trying to bring her out of the seizure; it worked. Now, when she goes to bed, Porthos will lie down with her until she is asleep. He does this every night, without fail. Once she is asleep, he comes prancing from her room as if to say, "My job is done." He will return to her room every once in a while to check up on her.
I think we made a very wise choice in our dog. He is truly her guardian angel.