Sunday Sign of Hope 1/22/06

Dogs Alert Deputy; Help Save Collapsed Owner's Life

At least something still loves us. From WNBC:

A sheriff's deputy who found a diabetic man who had collapsed in a cornfield said the man's dogs are a major reason why he survived.

Morgan County, Ind., sheriff's Deputy Steve Hoffman said he had just finished with a traffic stop on a rural road in Centerton, Ind., one evening recently when he noticed something odd coming from a cornfield.

"I noticed what appeared to be an illumination or a light that was flickering and facing my direction," Hoffman said.

Hoffman said he went toward the light, where he found an unconscious Bill Burns and Burns' two dogs. The light was coming from a flashlight, which one of the dogs was holding in its mouth.

The other dog was lying on Burns as if to keep him warm, Hoffman said.

Hoffman said he saw Burns was wearing a bracelet that indicated he was a diabetic. Burns was taken to a hospital, where he spent four days before being released.

Burns had been walking with the dogs when he collapsed. He said he doesn't remember the ordeal, but he believes that Hoffman seeing Burns' flashlight in the mouth of one of the dogs is remarkable.

"It's got to be just fate or faith, one or the other," Burns said.

Hoffman said the dogs "definitely are the heroes in the story."

"Had he not had the dogs with him that evening, I think the outcome would have been a lot worse," Hoffman said.