Today a story both touched and broke my heart.
A 7 year old local boy with autism had wandered off from his home on Saturday with his dog, he didn’t have a jacket or warm clothes on. Later that night we got a snow storm and everyone was so afraid. Search parties looked everywere for him but he was non-verbal so couldn’t respond to calls. Monday afternoon, his dog wandered out of the woods and alerted search parties as to the boy’s location. They found him and he was amazingly still alive but was unconscious with severe hypothermia. They were shocked he was alive at all after two and a half days in the freezing weather with no jacket. They flew him to the IWK hospital here in the city to try and save him, sadly he died this morning. My heart is broken for his family, lossing their son, and so close to Christmas.

My heart was warmed however in that they think he lived as long as he did because his dog lay across him and kept him warm, only leaving his side when he had stopped breathing.

This dog is a hero in this boy’s story, he obviously did everything he could to keep the boy safe. Stories like this come to light all the time, and everytime they do I feel my heart swell more and more for these incredible animals. My Oliver is truly the most loyal and loving animal I have ever had in my world. He protects me and licks me when I am sad or sick. It never ceases to amaze me the level of loyaltee you can see between a dog and the people who love it.