OTTAWA -- An Ottawa family is thanking their "earth angels" after the family dog and two neighbours saved their daughter during a sudden medical emergency.
Haley Moore was walking her one-and-a-half-year old Maremma mix, Clover, through their Stittsville neighbourhood Tuesday morning, when suddenly she began to seize.
"All I remember is waking up in the ambulance and being really confused; just like what is going on," Moore said.
What happened in between was nothing short of incredible.
Video from a neighbour’s security camera shows Clover spring into action, first checking on her owner, then watching as a car passed by Moore.
Moments later, a second vehicle approached. This time, Clover freed her leash from Moore’s grasp before moving to block the truck’s path, forcing the driver to stop.
"It was really impressive, the dog actually blocked my way. She kind of backed into the road to block my truck," said the driver, Dryden Oatway.
The 21-year-old quickly got out of his truck to help Moore; watched by Clover the whole time.
"The whole time she was backing down the street she had eyes on Hailey; didn’t look away from her. She kept her distance from me but made sure her owner was okay and that was amazing," Oatway added.
Oatway tried to get help from a nearby neighbour before returning to tend to Moore. Eventually Clover caught the attention of a second neighbour who stopped to help.
"Immediately I just stopped and I jumped out of the Jeep and I asked Dryden if everything was okay and he was like, "I don’t know, she fell,"" Danielle Pilon said.
It was only after Pilon arrived that Clover went to get more help.
"You could tell she didn’t want to leave her even when we were with her but I think it just came to her that she was like 'I need to go home to let them know she needs help,'" Pilon said.
"When I got a knock on the door from the neighbours, they were frantic and our dog Clover was barking like crazy," Randall Moore, Haley’s father recalled.
By the time Clover and her family returned to the scene, Haley was in an ambulance being treated by paramedics.
"To see my daughter, face full of mud, and she was incoherent, wasn’t sure where she was, it was just terrifying, it really was,” Randall Moore said.
Thankfully, Haley was okay.
The family isn’t sure what caused the sudden seizure, but Haley says she’s comforted by the fact that she’ll have her dog there to protect her.
"If this ends up happening again, I feel 10 times safer and I know she will be there for me," Haley smiled.
“You know how good animals are and she’s a really amazing dog and I love her to death," she added.
For her part, Clover has received a hero’s thanks from her family.
"[My wife] Diane comes home with a couple of big steaks and I thought 'Wow, this is great, I’m getting a big steak' and she said, 'No, it’s for Clover for doing such a great job,'" Randall Moore said.
Her owners, and neighbours, now fully aware of the special bond between their daughter and man’s best friend.
"Good thing they have the dog, because she’s a very good friend to her," Pilon said.
