ASHLAND, VA- Man’s best friend…and women also. A dog named Gozier, who appears to be a mixed-breed dog, is being credited with saving a woman’s life last week after she alerted her owner, Dan DiCandilo, that something was wrong, Breitbart News reports.
DiCandilo told WWBT that he walks Gozier every day, rain or shine, heat or cold. On March 3, just after sunrise, DiCandilo and Gozeir were doing their daily five-mile walk around his neighborhood, a ritual they have been doing for nine years. DiCandilo told the outlet that “Gozier is the child we’ve never had.”
“We were about halfway up Henry Clay, heading towards the tracks as we call it here in Ashland, and she started barking wildly at a house that we pass every single day,” DiCandilo, an Edward Jones Financial advisor, said.
DiCandilo explained that this time, Gozier’s bark was different–”it had a little cry to it.”
“It was different. It wasn’t a bark I had heard from her before,” DiCandilo explained. He said his dog began pulling him towards the home.
He said it wasn’t until he got closer that he realized what had Gozier so upset…a woman was lying unconscious and unresponsive on the front steps.
“It was a woman who was on her back in a white robe, which camouflaged her and made it impossible to see from the road,” DiCandilo said. “She had no hat, she had no gloves, she had no shoes,” noting it was only 15 degrees outside at that time.
DiCandilo called 911 and alerted the homeowner, who did not recognize the woman. DiCandilo said Gozier kept barking at the woman as if she were trying to wake her.
It was later determined from a neighbor’s doorbell camera that the woman showed up at around 4:15 a.m. and had been in the sub-freezing cold for about three hours before Gozier alerted to her, which saved her life. The woman’s body temperature had dipped to 78 degrees, DiCandilo was later told. She spent a week in intensive care and was able to survive her ordeal, thanks to Gozier. It was later learned that the woman suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease, WRIC 8 reported.
In a press release, the Town of Ashland said it would honor Gozier during its March 3 Council meeting. The town called Gozier a hero.
“Dogs are special, they have that sense that we don’t have, and obviously, that was well displayed that morning,” DiCandilo said. “It’s like a proud father; that’s my little girl, DiCandilo told WWBT.
Comments