Get A Dog, It Might Save Your Life

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/vivnsect/8107039643/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vivienne gucwa's flickr</a>

Dogs enrich our lives in so many different ways: they help us with emotional traumas, they help us navigate through snowy streets, they fertilize the earth, they allow us to dress them up for our own amusement, and they're fiercely loyal. In case all that doesn't seem like reason enough to invest in a living creature that isn't yourself, here's one more: dogs save their owners' lives all the time.

On Friday, Jackie Bonasera said her pit bull Cain saved her life when her house was set on fire. Bonasera was drying her hair in an upstairs bathroom of her house in East Norwich when Cain started barking; she ran downstairs and saw flames on the side of her garage. "I ran out of the house and my neighbors came running over, and then I thought about the dog -- I'm like, 'He saved my life, I have to save his,'" Bonasera told NBC. "So I just put my robe over my face and I ran back in and I grabbed the dog and then I stood out here and I watched my house burn," she said.

On Saturday morning, Yolanda the guide dog for legally blind 54-year-old Christina Colon chased away burglars in her Philadelphia home, and then led her to the phone to help her dial 911. As if that wasn't enough, one of the burglars had turned her stove's burner on without a flame, and the house filled with gas. After calling 911, Yolanda led the woman out of the house. "It could have been a very serious situation," said Philadelphia police Capt. Francis Bachmayer. "Thank God there were no injuries."

Last month, 76-year-old Herbert Schutz became trapped under his vehicle in Australia, Boydy, an Australian kelpie, stayed by his side for four days until help arrived. "Even when we found him, the dog ran straight to his side and cuddled up to him. He didn't want to leave him even then," neighbor Eric Merritt said. Schultz later "was adamant his dog had saved his life." "He said his dog lay on him and kept him warm a lot of the time," Merritt added.

Animal rescue worker Marian Cooper said in April that her 6-year-old pet pug tirelessly nudged at her right breast until she performed a self-exam and discovered she had a lump. That growth was diagnosed as a grade 3 malignant tumor; but Flo found it early enough that doctors were able to successfully remove it.

In March, 49-year-old Long Island resident Linda Rubino had a stroke when she was home alone; but her 9-year-old German Shepard April kept licking her mouth, making sure she did not choke on her own saliva. “When the fluid blocks your nose, then that would be a problem. So, she cleared that up for me,” Rubino told CBS.

And hey, it's not like dogs are the only life savers—once in a while, cats step up too!