OtisĀ is a 10 1/2 month oldĀ Australian Shepherd who hails from Fayette County from a family-owned kennel, Mountain Trail Aussies. Otis found his forever home through careful personality and temperament matching.Ā Otis possessed incredible therapy qualities which placed him with a couple in Indiana who sought an Australian Shepherd to be part of their ministry.
Otis quickly bonded with his new family and began his life as a therapy dog servicing the retired minister and his wife’s ministry of visiting local VA hospitals.
Yesterday morning, life nearly changed for Otis’ owner, Rich.Ā As Rich was reclined in his loveseat taking his morning medications, a pill became lodged in his throat.Ā He began choking and was unable to get the pill to go down.Ā Rich couldn’t breathe and became panicked that he would not be able to get the pill down as his wife, Deb was working that day and not at home.
Ā Ā Ā Otis quickly bolted into action to save his dad.Ā Using nothing but his weight, Otis began to jump on the 70 year old retired minister’s chest and neck area. The 45 lb hero successfully ejected the pills from his owner’s throat and Rich was able to start breathing again.Ā The ordeal lasted only a minute or so, but Otis didn’t stop there.Ā Otis decided that he needed to make sure his dad was okay.Ā He laid with his sweet face next to Rich to make sure that he was fully recovered from the ordeal.Ā
“Yes, I do believe he may have saved my life. I was scared to death and was totally incapacitated. I couldn’t raise myself out of the out of the reclined position in the loveseat.” Otis’ owner had this to say.Ā He continued by saying, “I think the ONLY reason you (Mountain Trail Aussies) still had him for 16 weeks is God knew beforehand that we were going need him.”
Otis will continue to train as a therapy dog and continue his journey into ministry with his family.Ā Dogs are surely just one of the infinite ways God shows His love for us.