Smart dog saves master's life

by Lin Ferguson
A young Marton man owes his life to his plucky, switched-on dog Pongo.
Todd Spring, 22, is a diabetic but mostly the dark side of illness doesn't bother him because he knows how to keep it under control with his medication.
But in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Pongo, who usually sleeps outside, was asleep inside on the floor of the living room when something disturbed him.
Pongo knew something wasn't right with his master.
The golden staffy/bull mastiff cross whined and growled outside Todd's bedroom door until someone woke up.
"He woke mum up ,and she thought he wanted to go outside, but then she saw him growling and crying outside my door and decided she'd better have a look."
Todd had had a diabetic seizure. He was unconscious and seriously ill.
 "Mum couldn't believe it and was stunned that Pongo had raised the alarm. Pongo saved me. I would have died because I was unconscious and didn't know what was going on."
 The only other time he'd had a seizure was at a school camp when he was 13, he said.
"And that was so embarrassing, jerking around in front of everyone, because that's what happens - all your muscles convulse."
Mr Spring said he thinks the seizure happened because he'd been for a 3km walk on Monday night after dinner with a friend, got home late, had a beer then went to bed just before midnight.
"Obviously, my blood sugar was way too low when I went to bed, and I went into a very deep sleep."
When he was woken up about 2am, he saw a group of people standing around his bed staring down at him.
"I thought it must be about 6am and time to get up for work. Then I realised the faces were my family and two ambulance guys."
His mother had given him an emergency injection of Glucagon (a drug which is used to treat Mr Spring's condition) while the family waited anxiously for the ambulance to arrive.
"Well, we're out in the country, in Santoft, so they can't get here in just a couple of minutes."
Yesterday, Pongo the wonder dog was in fine form, barking and bouncing around, his spiky tail whirling like the rotor blade on a helicopter.
But he wasn't straying far from his master's side.
"It Pongo hadn't warned everyone, I would have died. I would've. I was already unconscious."
Pongo has dined on specially cooked ham steaks over the past two nights, Mr Spring grinned.
"Yeah, good dog, Pongo. Good boy, way to go..."