Yogi, golden retriever hero
Paul Horton is alive today because Yogi, his golden retriever, went for help when his master was lying bloody in the street, paralyzed from the waist down.
On May 24, the Humane Society of the United States thanked Yogi for his service by giving him the group’s highest honor for bravery, the 2011 Valor Dog of the Year Award.
In October, Horton had a mountain biking accident near his home in Lake Travis, Texas. “I’m sure I’ve done it 100 times, but this time my front wheel stopped and I went over the handlebars and landed on my head,” Horton told the Austin American-Statesman.
Horton was knocked unconscious, and when he came to, he was paralyzed and bleeding from his nose and mouth.
Although Yogi wouldn’t leave his master’s side for 45 minutes after the accident, Horton was finally able to persuade Yogi to go for help. The retriever headed for the road, where he encountered Horton’s neighbors, Bruce and Maggie Tate. Realizing something was wrong, they followed him back to Horton.
“It’s pretty amazing that Yogi first stayed with Paul when he needed to, then recognized us and came to get us,” Bruce Tate said. “Paul was in desperate shape. He wasn’t in a place where there’s a lot of traffic.”
At the hospital, Horton was diagnosed with a pinched vertebrae in his spinal cord. Although he is still in a wheelchair, he has regained some sensation in his torso, back and legs.
“The dog alerting his neighbor was instrumental in getting him to a hospital and preventing his choking to death or going into shock. He might not have survived if he hadn’t been found until the next day,” said Dr. Juan La Torre, medical director of the spinal cord injury and amputee program at St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Austin.
At the award ceremony, Yogi received a crystal likeness of himself and customized silver dog tags.
“It takes a very unique and special dog to do what Yogi did,” said Humane Society director Nicole Paquette. “He obviously has a true bond with Paul, and it just demonstrates how close we are to our companion animals and how much we need them.”
Valor Dog Awards, Runners-Up
Sarge, a German shepherd from Forsyth, Illinois. Alerted the family to an intruder in the house in the middle of the night.
Gangsta, a Pomeranian from Selden, New York. Barked and howled when a family member was having a violent seizure.
Photo: Paul Horton, via Humane Society
