Puppy Rescued From Euthanasia Saves 4-Year-Old Owner's Life

Minneapolis, US — A Minnesota woman has rescued an abandoned pit bull pup slated to be euthanized, giving him a new name and a second chance – and he has repaid the debt by saving his new owner’s son.

Just days after Christi Smith brought home the 10-month-old pit bull named Gator, the pup sensed something was amiss with Smith’s 4-year-old son in the middle of the night. Smith said the pooch, whom she has renamed TatorTot, kept whining and barking after jumping on her son and licking his face.

When the mother entered the room of her son, Peyton Anderson, the toddler was barely breathing. After rushing Peyton to the emergency room, doctors ran a series of tests and found out the boy’s blood sugar was dangerously low.

Smith told the station KMSP-TV she believes the dog she rescued saved her son’s life. And while Smith earlier had planned to foster TatorTot only until a permanent home could be found four him, the rambunctious four-legged hero isn’t going anywhere �� he’s become part of the family for good.

The hero pooch and his new owners have recently taken part in a photo session organized by photographer Angela Boone to welcome TatorTot into the family.

TatorTot, formerly known as Gator, got off to a rough start in life. Last May, the pup landed in a kennel at Minneapolis Animal Care Control and was slated to be put down when someone spotted his photo on the group’s Facebook page and expressed interest in fostering him.

The puppy was pulled off the list of animals slated for euthanasia, but the arrangement with the foster family fell through in September, and Gator was once again on the brink of being destroyed.

That is when Brooklyn Park resident Christi Smith stepped in. At first, Smith had no intention of taking Gator in, thinking that the energetic pup would present too many challenges for her family.

Instead, she was planning to foster a different pit bull, but was told by the group she has been working with, Ruff Start Rescue, that their priority was to find a home for Gator first.

Smith has agreed to foster the pup on a temporary basis and then help him find a permanent home. “I have an understanding of the breed, so I figured I’d work with him and get him adopted fairly quickly,” Smith told the paper Pioneer Press.

The woman brought Gator to her home September 28 and renamed his TatorTot. The pup was everything she expected him to be: energetic, restless and disobedient.

Four days later, at around 8.30pm Smith tucked her son, Peyton, in for the night, but he woke up four hours later asking for a drink of water. His mother noticed that the boy was acting odd – as was their new puppy.

Smith took the boy back to bed, but TatorTot would not let up, barking and running back and forth between Peyton’s room and her in a state of agitation.

Alarmed by TatorTot’s bizarre behavior, the mother went to check up on the 4-year-old, only to discover that Peyton was hardly breathing. Meanwhile, TatorTot was licking the child’s face and pawing at him with evident concern.

The terrified parent picked up her son and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where doctors had to administer a shot of adrenaline to wake Peyton up.

A battery of tests performed on the toddler has revealed that Peyton had extremely low glucose levels.

“Peyton’s levels were so low that he could have had a seizure, or fallen into a coma, or even died,” Smith told the paper. “Medical alert dogs are not uncommon, but they usually have to undergo training. With TatorTot, I just got extremely lucky and blessed that he knew something was wrong.”

Isis Sanchez, of Blue Pearl Veterinary Clinic, told the station that TatorTot’s keen sense of smell may have picked up on ketones produced by Peyton’s low blood sugar levels.

Now, Christi Smith is committed to adopting TatorTot and making him a part of their family. “I am never going to let this dog go,” she said. “I owe him for the rest of his life.”

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Source: DailyMail.co.uk

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