MOMENTS THAT MATTER: Doggy S.O.S.

Clever Canines Call For Help...

George the Basset Hound
was choking — so he dialed
the emergency operator...

After George, the two-year-old Basset Hound from West Yorkshire, England, got so tangled in a phone cord that he began choking, the frantic pup somehow managed to alert authorities by dialing 999 — the British equivalent to 911, the Sun reports. Concerned by the heavy breathing on the other end, the emergency operator dispatched police to the home.

COPS who raced to a house after hearing desperate heavy breathing during an emergency call found a DOG had rung 999 while strangling itself with the telephone wire. George, the two-year-old Basset Hound, had knocked the phone to the floor and got entangled in the wire — winding it round his neck.

And he panicked so much he incredibly managed to ring 999 as he pawed at the phone trying to free himself.  The emergency operator alerted police who dashed to the empty home of driving instructor Steve Brown and his daughter Lydia, 18, on Saturday night.

They were preparing to smash down the door when a family friend from a nearby house ran out with a key to let them in. Four officers sprinted through the house in South Hiendley, West Yorkshire, searching the rooms.

Pals ... George and owner Lydia

And then neighbor Paul Walker walked into the living room and found terrified George choking — with the phone lead wound tightly round his neck.  Paul, 41, ripped the phone apart to wrench the wire from George's throat.

He said: "The police split up and ran through the house thinking someone had either been attacked or was desperately ill. I went to look round as well and walked into this room and saw George choking.

"He was absolutely terrified and could not free himself. I knew I had to get him free quickly so I just ripped the wire out. Incredibly you could see where his paw print was on the phone to ring 999 — he literally saved his own life.

"When the police came into the room and realized what had happened they burst out laughing. They told me they had been sent out because of a 999 call in which the operator could only hear heavy breathing and gasping. They thought someone had collapsed or been attacked."

Lucky escape ... George managed
to paw the emergency number

Paul had been left a key with college student Lydia to feed George later in the evening while she went out to do an evening shift as a waitress.  Lydia said: "By the time I got back the police had gone and George was looking a little sorry for himself."

"It is just so lucky that his paw managed to ring 999 otherwise he would have died. We still don't know how he managed it. It's one of those old-fashioned phones with the dialing ring. He's not usually very smart. He's really dopey and just likes to chew socks."

Singing sensation Patches the Pup,

is saved from death because he 

could howl 'Happy Birthday'

Last year, 15-year-old Patches saved his own life by singing "happy birthday," the Daily Mail reports. Up until then, the pooch was reportedly on death row after accidentally ending up at the pound. They say that every dog has its day, but the days of Patches the mongrel seemed numbered — until he was able to sing Happy Birthday. Patches was due to be put down at a dog pound because no-one who could prove they knew him had come forward.

That was until a dog foster caregiver called at Mildura pound in Australia, where 15-year-old Patches was being kept on death row and tried to get him to sing Happy Birthday. He obliged — and his life was spared.

Patches' elderly master, Eddie Vassallo, an Italian migrant living in northern Victoria, used to spend hours sitting with his pet on his knee. But when 82-year-old Eddie died three months ago, Patches got caught up in the confusion that followed and ended up in a pound.

Working on behalf of Mr Vassallo's daughter, who lives in far-away Sydney, Kaye Grivec, a Victorian Dog Rescue foster caregiver, helped in the hunt for the much-loved pooch. When she arrived at the pound, Miss Grivec was asked if she could prove that Patches belonged to someone.

'There's only one way to find out,' said Miss Grivec,

and started singing Happy Birthday to the dog.

"At first, he had a sad, faraway look in his eyes, just like he was thinking about something or missing someone," said Miss Grivec. "Then he just put his head back and started howling along with me, and I just burst into tears of joy," she told Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper.

Marie Vassallo, daughter of Patches' late master, was overjoyed when she learned that the dog's enjoyment of Happy Birthday had saved his life. "When they finished singing, Dad would say, 'Bravo, bravo, Patches' and Patches just loved it," she said. "Also, when it was anyone's birthday, Dad would telephone them and he would sing Happy Birthday to them with Patches singing along. "It was Patches' favorite song and it became a family tradition for Dad and Patches to sing it together."

When she learned that Patches had disappeared following her father's death, Miss Vassallo was heartbroken. "He'd been impounded for quite a while and his time on death row was almost up. Thank goodness he's been found and saved and it was all due to that song. We're now arranging to have Patches brought up to Sydney to live out his life with the family."

Max the Chocolate Lab

saves his own life after being

mistakenly left inside a hot car

A very clever canine left in a dire situation decided to take matters into his own paws and it saved his life.  Two years ago, Max, a chocolate Lab from Macungie, Pa. saved his own life after his owner, Donna Gardner, accidentally locked him in her car in 90-degree heat.

11-year-old Max loves a good game of catch and what dog doesn't. But his owner Donna Gardner of Macungie, Pa. says she knew from the moment she got him that he wasn't like most dogs.

"He's just a strange dog, he does things that normal dogs don't do," Donna said. Max can climb out of swimming pool using the ladder and he rings a bell when he has to go out. But on a steamy summer day when Donna accidentally left him in the car, Max needed to send out an S.O.S.

No, he didn't bark. To get his owner's attention, Max laid on the horn — much to Donna's surprise. "He did it twice ... two times," Donna said. That's because the first time Donna looked out, she didn't notice anything, so Max laid on the horn again. "I'm thinking 'Who is blowing the horn out there."

"I went out on the porch this time and there is Max

sitting in the front seat of my car. Well,

obviously it was him that blew the horn."

Max's life-saving stunt has made him a celebrity of sorts, but Donna says at the time it was pretty scary. Max had been in the car for about an hour and it was 90-degrees outside. "I was hysterical. I could not call the vet, my daughter had to call the vet because I couldn't talk," Donna said. "I was crying. I just couldn't believe I did that to him."

After getting Max water and cooling him off with wet towels, Donna rushed him to her vet — Dr. Nancy Soares, whose office had gotten the emergency call and was ready for anything. "His cooling mechanism, which the only one dogs have really is panting, was pretty severe," Dr. Soares of Macungie Animal Hospital said. Dr. Soares says Donna did all the right things and Max did not need much medical care.

Still, she says Max is a lucky dog. Dr. Soares says even with the windows rolled down on a 72-degree day, the car temperature can hit 100 to 120-degrees in just 10 minutes. "The mortality rate in dogs that suffer heat exhaustion is about 50-percent. It's a pretty high number," Dr. Soares said. "Lucky for Max, he saved his own life."

Donna says she doesn't know where Max learned to honk the horn. She says she is not a honker, but obviously she is very glad he figured it out. Of course he wasn't the least bit interested in showing us his honking skill during our recent visit.

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www.thesun.co.uk