Dog Honoured with Life-Saving Award

For the first time in the city’s history, a dog will be presented with a life-saving award for helping to rescue a woman in distress.

The Calgary Police Service, Calgary Humane Society and Calgary Animal & Bylaw Services partnered to develop the Animal Hero Award of Exceptional Recognition after hearing of the efforts of Mack. The loveable black Labrador was instrumental in the July 2012 rescue of a distraught woman.

Mack and his owner, Michelle Dawson, were out for a leisurely evening stroll when the dog fixated on something suspicious in a nearby tree. Michelle then noticed a woman in a tree, and despite several attempts to get the woman’s attention, she would not respond.

She then saw the woman had a yellow rope around her neck, with the cord tethered to a branch that was roughly eight feet above the Bow River. Michelle ran to her nearby home and asked her husband, Gordon, to call 911. The couple then returned to the scene to assist police and EMS locate the woman in distress.

Emergency crews pulled the victim to safety where she was treated by EMS and taken to hospital.

Without Mack’s tenacity to bring attention to the victim, and the swift actions of the Dawson family, the outcome most certainly would have been deadly. The Dawsons have already been recognized for their role in the rescue.

Mack will receive his award – a tri-services embossed blue collar with a gold medallion - at the Cocktails and Critters Gala hosted by the Calgary Humane Society on Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, at Hotel Arts, 119 12 Ave. S.W.

Mack and his owners will be available to the media at 6:30 p.m. The award will be presented at 8 p.m.