Despite the fact that our dogs are arguably one of the greatest gifts from God, there are still people who dislike them. Among them is a man named Matthew Church, who was pressured by his daughter Olivia to get a dog.
Matthew was adamantly opposed to the idea, but when his eldest daughter, Alicia, had to leave for college, he realized that a dog may provide Olivia with companionship. That was when they adopted the Labrador retriever named Zola.
Despite granting his daughter’s request, Matthew maintained his distance from the dog. He met Zola’s basic needs, but he did not attempt to develop a connection with her.
Before Christmas of 2014, he had never been a dog lover. However, that all changed.
Matthew rides his bicycle for exercise, and according to him, he’s quite aggressive while he’s out on the road on it. But one fateful day, after a long journey, he returned home fatigued and went upstairs to watch television. But while watching television, Matthew collapsed to the floor. He suffered a heart attack!
Patricia, his wife, was downstairs and she heard the loud sound caused by Matthew collapsing but she didn’t think much of it because her family sometimes made fun of her paranoia. She chose to disregard it, supposing that Matthew had just dropped something heavy.
Fortunately, Zola recognized that something was amiss. The dog behaved irrationally in front of Patricia, ceaselessly barking and growling. Patricia, therefore, went upstairs to check on her husband, where she discovered him lying on the floor. Matthew was unconscious and his face was bluish.
She dialed 911, and fortunately, EMTs arrived at their home within minutes. Matthew was revived with a defibrillator, and he was quickly brought to the hospital. The on-call physician did surgery on him and warned that Matthew’s arterial blockage typically results in death. But since Zola was able to immediately warn the family, Matthew lived.
Now, Matthew and Zola are closer than ever. They even take walks together, as the veterinarian encouraged the dog grandfather to engage in less strenuous forms of exercise.
In 2016, Zola was recognized in the Purina Hall of Fame for saving Matthew’s life.
Source: Purina Canada
