The hearing-dog-in-training stopped his trainer from going to bed and started causing a racket in the garden to get help
Jeannette Godsell owes her life to a remarkable pup she’s been training to become a hearing dog for deaf people, after he saved her during a health scare in June. The trainer admits she has “no idea how he knew” she was in mortal peril, as detecting heart attacks hasn’t been part of his training.
The pair had just returned to her Southampton home when Jeannette began feeling “a bit funny” and settled onto the sofa. She told PA Real Life: “Watson was sat at my feet and he kept nudging my knee and going to the front door, trying to get me out I think, and he did this about half a dozen times.”
Hearing dogs are taught to alert their deaf handlers to noises like doorbells by nudging them in this manner before guiding them towards the sound. Dismissing his persistent alerts, Jeannette tried to head upstairs for a lie down while waiting for her partner Chris Blake to return home in a few hours, but Watson stubbornly blocked her path and barked at her.
The cocker spaniel then shot out into the back garden and caused a commotion, barking so ferociously that neighbour Sue emerged to investigate. When she saw how poorly Jeannette appeared, Sue called for an ambulance, which fortunately was parked just round the corner.
Jeanette said: “Bizarrely, Sue would have normally been at work but her appointment got cancelled. She came in and Watson rushed up to her and was nudging her. I’m eternally grateful to Sue – Watson alerted her but he didn’t phone the ambulance, she knew I needed help.”
After paramedics diagnosed her with a heart attack, the 58 year old was swiftly taken for surgery to receive a stent in her heart. Remarkably, just an hour after the incident, Jeannette was sipping tea in the recovery room with her partner without any lasting damage from the incident.
Reflecting on the critical timing, she said: “I was told afterwards that there is a golden hour when you have a heart attack, so the longer the damage is there, the more problems that can be caused.
“All of it came together, the ambulance was up the road, we arrived at the hospital in seven minutes… I can’t get my head around it really.”
Jeannette feels incredibly lucky about how everything fell into place for her survival that day, stating: “Had Watson not been here, had he not been barking, had Sue not been at home…I would have gone upstairs to have a lie down and my partner, Chris, wouldn’t have been back for hours. Watson will always be in my heart and my heart is OK because of him.”
She first welcomed Watson last July when she began volunteering as a trainer with Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. The duo have formed an incredibly strong connection over their year together, though Jeannette remains baffled by how he not only sensed she was in peril but understood how to fetch assistance.
“Every time I think about it, it fries my head,” she said.
In the next few weeks, Watson will be paired with a deaf person to serve as their hearing dog. Whilst Jeannette knows he’ll provide invaluable support to his future partner, she admitted: “He’ll forever be in our hearts but it will be a lot harder to say goodbye to him after this.”
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People are desperately seeking additional volunteer puppy trainers throughout the UK. For further details, visit the website here.