Here’s your feel-good story of the day.
In despair, a 63-year-old woman was going to commit suicide by shooting herself. But her loyal dog jumped at her and diverted the path of the bullet.
Agence France-Presse reports, March 6, 2013, that the woman had carried a .22 rifle into the garden of her home in Avignon in S.E. France, intending to kill herself.
After firing several test shots to ensure that the gun was working, she turned the gun on herself, pointing at her heart, and was about to pull the trigger.
As recounted by a police officer, “When she pulled the trigger, her dog jumped on her and diverted the shot.”
Police thinks the dog, a German Shepherd mix, “probably sensed things and knocked into her to save her.”
The woman suffered a chest wound but was found conscious by her husband. She was taken to a nearby hospital; her injuries are not said to be life-threatening.
According to the police source, “the dog was apparently very affected” by its owner’s attempted suicide.
The German Shepherd, also known as the Alsatian, is a breed of large-sized dogs that originated in Germany in 1899.
They were bred specifically for their intelligence, a trait for which they are now famous. In the book The Intelligence of Dogs, author Stanley Coren ranked the breed third for intelligence, behind Border Collies and Poodles. He found that they had the ability to learn simple tasks after only five repetitions and obeyed the first command given 95% of the time. Coupled with their strength, this trait makes the breed desirable as police, guard, and search and rescue dogs, as they are able to quickly learn various tasks and interpret instructions better than other large breeds.
Known for their loyal and protective nature, German Shepherds are one of the most popular breeds of dogs.
H/t Daily Mail and FOTM’s CSM.
~Eowyn
