A Washington man is recovering well after falling and injuring his leg—all thanks to his dog, Gita. Gita ran outside her owner’s remote cabin and barked for help until she caught the attention of a nearby sheriff’s deputy.
According to the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office, located in northeast Washington on the Canadian border, sheriff’s deputy Wright was patrolling a rural wooded area on Wednesday, Sept. 25, when he came across 13-year-old rescue pup Gita sitting in the street. Because no homes were easily accessible from the area, the deputy tried to coax her into his car.
“Wright tried to get the dog into his vehicle so he could attempt to find the owner, but the dog would not get in his vehicle,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Facebook shared on Oct. 1. “Wright proceeded to check the surrounding area residences within a mile and could not find the owner.”
The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!
As Wright sensed “something amiss,” he approached Gita one more time to try and get her out of the middle of the road and into his car, but this time, the black-and-white dog took off down an unmarked side street.
“Wright followed the dog, and it led him to a small summer cabin,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
As it would turn out, Gita had been trying to lead the sheriff’s deputy somewhere in particular. Just a “short distance” outside of the cabin, the dog’s 84-year-old owner was on the ground with an injured leg.
“The 84-year-old-male, who also had other medical conditions needing regular medications, had fallen and injured his leg,” the sheriff’s office wrote, adding that the man had been calling for help for hours as he sat unable to move.
Calling Gita a “hero dog,” the sheriff’s office acknowledged that she was the “best friend of the gentleman in trouble.”
“We credit Gita for saving his life that day. The loyalty and heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us,” the office finished. “Thank you, Deputy Wright, for going to the extra effort, and thank you, Gita, for being a good girl and true hero!”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The news of Gita’s heroic rescue comes just a few months after a dog in Oregon helped authorities locate his missing owner, who got stuck in a ravine after a car crash at a remote campground.
The pup had traveled over four miles on foot to alert the man’s family at another nearby campground that something was wrong — and the Baker County Sheriff’s Office was able to rescue the man from the crash site shortly after.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
