Two dogs are being credited with saving a two year-old boy who apparently wandered into a dammed body of water in New Zealand.

Max had been missing for about 15 minutes as neighbours drove around desperately looking for him.

He was discovered by neighbour Narelle Kay who was sitting in her lounge at 9.50am when she heard a horrible noise.

“The sound was like a whining. It was shrill like a kitten crying or screaming like it had been stood on,” she said.

Mrs Kay looked out the kitchen window and saw two dogs at the back of the dam, 30m from the house.

[...]

“The dogs were halfway around the dam in a frenzied state.

“The brindle dog was pacing back and forth like it wanted help,” she said.

“Then I saw Max standing by the edge of the dam. My heart just went and I ran.”

She saw Max with his hair wet and slimy. He was covered in mud and had marks on his upper arms where the dogs had grabbed him and pulled him from the water.

“He was starkers. He didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. He must have walked out of home naked,” Mrs Kay said.

“The black dog was wet all over. I assume he was the one who retrieved Max out of the water. The brindle dog was making sure the boy wouldn’t go back into the water.”

Little Max had a gravel rash on his back where he slipped into the dam.

Police later identified the slide marks in the soft mud at the edge of the dam where the boy had been dragged from the water by the dogs. The Rottweiler cross and the Staffy were calm while Mrs Kay wrapped up Max.

Though I always love a good heroic dog story, what really forced me to make this post was the use of the term “starkers” by the redoubtable Mrs. Kay.

...................
Share this!

Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• Ying and yang
• Elvis: politics as usual
• Paris, 11/03/2005