‘Amazing, life-saving dog’ leads good Samaritan to unresponsive couple in PA

A good Samaritan listened to his intuition as he followed a dog dragging his leash, and it led to the discovery of two people in need of medical attention.

Gary Thynes said in a Facebook post he took his dog to a park in front of his building in Pittsburgh on July 29 when another dog came to the gate and began to bark repeatedly.

As Thynes attempted to get the dog to come to him, the pup kept backing up.

“Something put the idea in my head, VERY STRONGLY, that this dog wanted me to follow him. So I did,” he said on Facebook.

The man told WTAE he left his dog with a friend as he decided to trust his instinct and follow the pup.

The dog led him to a secluded path behind train tracks, where he found a tent encampment and an unresponsive man on a couch. After 911 was called, first responders discovered another unresponsive person nearby.

Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed to McClatchy News that a man and woman were taken to a hospital, where their condition was unknown.

“We are grateful to our Public Safety partners and the Good Samaritan who were in the area and were in a position to help,” authorities said.

The unresponsive man and woman were receiving the care they needed, but Thynes’ work was not done.

“My attention went back to this amazing, life-saving dog,” Thynes said. “I felt compelled to make sure he was ok too.”

He came upon a social worker, who told him she knew the people who were rescued. The dog was theirs, she told Thynes, and he said he would care for the dog while they were being treated.

Thynes, who referred to the pup as a “hero,” told WTAE the dog “definitely saved some lives.”

“I’m going to do whatever I can to help this little guy out the way that he helped save his owners lives,” he said on Facebook.