German shepherd tracks down help for ailing owner
This is a story about a dog who caught a dogcatcher.
In the process, Bear, a 5-year-old German shepherd, got his owner much-needed medical attention.
On Saturday, Bear's owner, Debbie Zeisler, had a seizure, collapsed and hit her head on the front steps of her house in Millsap.
"This dog saved my life," Zeisler said Wednesday.
After Bear couldn't rouse Zeisler, he went to a neighbor's house and scratched on the door, but no one was there, said Karen Kessler, Parker County's animal control supervisor.
Kessler and co-worker Terry Pena were in the neighborhood on an unrelated call and observed Bear.
They saw him go to another neighbor's house, but the fence was too high for him to jump over.
In the 100 block of East Cattail Lane, Bear found the dogcatchers.
"Bear just crawled up in my lap while I was sitting in the truck," Kessler said. "One of his tags said, 'I am a service dog,' and another said, 'I am a seizure dog.'
"We knew there was a problem because service dogs normally don't leave their people."
Bear's tag information was outdated, so they couldn't find his owner that way, she said.
"We weren't giving up," said Pena, an animal control officer. "We knew there was someone out there who needed help."
Kessler and Pena eventually found Zeisler by going door to door. Zeisler was disoriented and confused and initially refused medical treatment. Kessler and Pena insisted on calling an ambulance.
Bear climbed into the ambulance with her, Kessler said.
Zeisler said her seizures started about 18 years ago after a riding accident. She figures that she lay in her front yard for about 30 minutes.
Bear was adopted from a shelter and isn't formally trained as a service dog, Zeisler said. But since he has lived with her, he has shown sensitivity to her condition, she said.
"He will follow me to the kitchen to make sure that I take my medicine," Zeisler said. "Once I feel better, he will go lie down.
"I can tell him to go get my pills, and he will get them for me. They might be a little slobbery, but he will get them. He is one incredible dog."
Mitch Mitchell,
817-390-7752
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