Snickers

OSHAWA, ONTARIO

Snickers is a 4-year-old, male, Border Collie/Pointer cross, that owner Gregory Gould brought home in February of 2012. Greg adopted the dog from a previous owner, but he had no idea at the time that, in turn, Snickers would save Greg’s life.

In the early morning hours of March 19, 2012, Constable Rob Garnett and his partner were called to investigate a local complaint regarding a dog pacing in a resident’s driveway, barking incessantly, and blocking their repeated attempts to leave for work. Upon arriving at the scene, he and his partner encountered Snickers, who was obviously agitated. A dog lover himself, Constable Garnett immediately recognized this as unusual behaviour and questioned the resident who had placed the call. New to the neighbourhood they hadn’t met everyone just yet, however, thanks in large part to a tip provided by their daughter, it was concluded that the dog lived next door.

Constable Garnett went to knock on the door, and Snickers followed closely. After banging on the door several times with no response, he peered through a window and saw Gregory Gould unconscious on his living-room floor. Mr. Gould suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and depends on an assisted breathing machine. The levels on his machine weren’t on the correct setting, which had knocked him unconscious. As he lay there, he was slowly suffocating.

The Constable and his partner immediately sprang into action, breaking through the front door, assessing the situation, and calling paramedics. Snickers sat by Mr. Gould’s side as they waited for medical help to arrive. At this point, Constable Garnett started looking around the house, and uncovered Snickers’ escape route: the glass in the back screen door was shattered and the latch had been triggered. Based on his observations, he concluded that Snickers – in a determined effort to get help for his owner – had thrown his body repeatedly against the screen door until he was able to escape to the backyard. Once outside, Snickers then ran to the back corner of the yard where some weaker, cross hatched fencing had been put up. He had broken through that as well. All of this happened at approximately 3 a.m., which means that Snickers had sought help for upwards of two hours. He was drawn to the neighbours’ home when their lights went on around 5 a.m.

Thanks to Snickers’ keen intuition, persistence, physical strength and determination, Mr. Gould received the medical attention he needed in the nick of time. Doctors said that if he had remained on his living room floor for one hour longer, he would not have survived. Mr. Gould and his family – especially his son Jeff, daughter-in-law Kiran and granddaughter Hazel – are very grateful to Snickers for saving Greg’s life. He’s their family hero.