A Staffordshire Terrier in Perth, Australia is being hailed as a hero for his role in rescuing a 96-year-old neighbor who had fallen and broken his hip.
Zeus could sense the injured man just beyond the shared fence and whined at the spot for 40 minutes until his owner took notice and investigated. The elderly man had been lying helpless in his yard for more than 2 days.
Mick Condo, Zeus’ dad, didn’t think too much of his 3-year-old dog’s behavior at first, but when Zeus refused to tear his attention away from the fence, Condo decided he’d better investigate. That’s when he heard the faint voice of his elderly neighbor crying out for help.
Condo told Radio 6PR:
“The gentleman had called out ‘help me help me I’ve broken my hip,”
With the help of a few other neighbors, Condo was able to break down the man’s gate and enter the yard. Inside they discovered another dog – one who was not pleased to find several strange men breaking into his yard. When the faithful pooch realized the intruders were there to help his master, he relaxed and allowed them to approach.
Condo described the man’s dire condition:
“He wasn’t in a good way. His lips were severely cracked and he had a lot of blood marks on his arm. He was really only wearing shorts and it was freezing on Wednesday and Thursday nights when he was out there…all he had was a dog blanket that he had pulled over him.”
The elderly man is now recovering from hip surgery at Fiona Stanley Hospital where Mr. Condo plans to visit him soon. Before he was taken away by ambulance, the man thanked Condo, saying that he did not think he could have survived another freezing night out in the elements.
As for Zeus, Condo believes that he used his remarkable canine senses to hear the elderly man’s faint cries and detect the distress of the other dog.
“He’s an extraordinary dog,” Mr Condo said. “He’s just magic.”
H/T to WA Today and The West Australian
Featured Image via Mick Condo
