A Georgia woman owes her life to a remarkable stray dog named Hero. The gorgeous German Shepherd pulled Shannon Lorio from the wreckage of her car, and dragged her 100 feet to the road where she was spotted by a passing motorist.
Suffering from a serious head injury, Lorio likely would have died without Hero’s intervention.
On that fateful night, Lorio decided to blow off steam after an argument with her husband. She drove to “Nascar Road,” a stretch of Georgia blacktop known for having very little traffic. Locals often speed along the windy rural roads, and Lorio was no exception. Unfortunately, on this night, her luck ran out.
She lost control of the vehicle, and as it fishtailed far off the road, she was thrown through the rear window. Lorio landed with her upper torso sprawled across the trunk, and the rest of her body dangling into the backseat.
She faded in and out of consciousness, unable to stand, and terrified she would not be found. During one period of wakefulness, Lorio sensed a presence. She saw a large black shape, and felt hot breath on her skin. It was a dog!
As the animal licked the blood from her face, Lorio drifted away again. When she came to, she was being dragged from the wreckage by her jacket. Hero managed to pull Lorio approximately 100 feet to the roadside.
She wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck and pulled herself up. From there she was able to flag down a passing car. The driver contacted 911 as well as Lorio’s husband.
Lorio once again lost consciousness, eventually coming to in a hospital. The accident had caused an intracranial hemorrhage, which if left untreated, may have killed her. Thanks to Hero’s quick response, Lorio not only survived, she also avoided surgery.
Unable to keep Hero, Lorio was delighted when he was adopted by Heidy Drawdy, a canine search and rescue trainer. Drawdy and her husband, Mike run the Thomasville unit of South Georgia Search Dogs Inc. It’s the perfect scenario for a pup with Hero’s natural bravery and talent!
“He saved my life without any training. And to think what he could do with the right amount of training, he could be saving many more lives,” Lorio said. “I told him, ‘you’ll always be my hero.’”
