A 6-year-old German shepherd named Sadie wasn't the easiest dog at the Ramapo Bergen Animal Refuge, being an anxious pup who didn't always get along well with men.
But now Sadie's being called a hero. Brian Myers rescued Sadie just a few months ago — and a couple of weeks ago, she rescued him.
Myers had a stroke in his Teaneck home in the middle of the night and collapsed to the floor. Sadie came and lied down next to him, licking his face and crying. Myers said he could tell she was in distress as he was on the floor. He was able to grab onto her collar, and Sadie took it from there.
"She instinctively started to pull backwards. That was enough to enable me to shuffle with her, out of where I was," Myers said from his rehab facility. Because of Sadie's efforts, Myers was able to get to a phone and call for help.
"I don't know how she knew to do it, but that she was able to pull me the way she did, I was so grateful to her," said Myers. "I live alone, so if she hadn't come and did what she did, I may as well have been worse off than I am right now."
Myers isn't able to speak as clearly as he used to, but he is expected to recover from the stroke. The workers at the shelter he got Sadie from were amazed to hear that the dog who had trouble making friends had sealed a life-long bond with her new owner.
"To us, Brian's a hero because he saved Sadie. And now Sadie saved him, so it's like the most incredible match," said Megan Brinster, who works at the animal refuge.
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With Myers still in rehab, he said he misses Sadie every day.
"I can't wait to see her and give her a hug and a kiss and I'll probably cry my eyes out doing so," Myers said. He said he hopes his story of Sadie will encourage more people to take rescue animals into their homes.
"There are many other dogs there waiting to be somebody's hero," Myers said.
