Man's
best friend: Retriever saves owner from heart attack
By: JULIE NOVAK, 06/25/2003
WAKEFIELD - To be man's best friend a dog usually has to display loyalty and
like fetching tennis balls or going for long walks. While saving his owner's
life may not be a requirement, Steve Boyle's dog Grommett
went above and beyond his call of duty when he did just that last year.
Boyle had been feeling short of breath and increasingly fatigued over the
course of three weeks.
And the worse he felt, the more Grommett, a six-year-old
golden retriever, followed him around the house. "He would circle and circle around me,
getting under my feet. And then he would lean on me. He made me so uncomfortable
that I decided to go to the hospital and they diagnosed me with congestive
heart failure," Boyle said.
Doctors determined a virus had settled in his heart, forcing it to swell to
three times its normal size.
This wasn't the first time Grommett had detected an illness
in a member of the Boyle family. When Steve's son Francis, a theater major at
the
A blood test later confirmed Francis had mono. "He's more empathic than some people I
know," Francis said.
If a guest is not feeling well, Grommett displays the
same behaviors, the family says, and will some-times rest his head in their
lap.
According to Dr. Nicholas Dodman, the director of animal
behavior at Tufts University School of
Veterinary Medicine, Grommett's behavior is not at
all unusual. He has studied animal behavior for more than 30 years and is one
of 30 veterinary behaviorists in the world. Last summer, he published his
latest book on the subject titled "If Only They Could Speak," which
relates 13 stories about pets and their abilities.
"Dogs are experts at reading our body language," Dodman
explained in a telephone interview Monday morning.
"They can perceive things that are beyond our perception."
Dogs are renowned for their sense of smell, which is 100 times more powerful
than a human's, and their visual capabilities are also heightened, Dodman said.
During his 22 years of research at Tufts, Dodman has encountered
cases where dogs have been able to detect some cancers, including melanoma, and
have sensed oncoming seizures and heart attacks.
"They may not know what is wrong, but they sense something is out of
whack," he said.
Analyzing Grommett's behavior, Dodman
suspects the dog was able to perceive Boyle's mood was different than usual. He
characterized his leaning behavior as "utter submission" to his
master.
"The dog is thinking, 'If I show him how much I defer to him, it might
make him feel better,'" Dod-man said.
While Grommett's pacing around his owner is more typical
of herding breeds, it is not uncommon for dogs to behave this way to displace
their anxiety. When a dog starts to pace, particularly in a circle, it shows he
knows something is wrong and wants to alleviate his discomfort.
"Different breeds react to stresses in different ways," Dodman noted.
"Because the dog is a retriever it wouldn't have surprised me if he had
brought things to his master."
Boyle's diagnosis last May forced him to retire from
Grommett rides with Boyle to his therapy sessions and
accompanies him on walks through
"We're together constantly, day and night," Boyle said, admitting
that he wasn't always so attached to the dog. "I don't get lonesome."
The family, which includes Steve's wife Cheryl and sons Andrew and Daniel,
adopted Grommett from the South Kingstown Pound about
five years ago for Francis, who trained him and spent the most time with him. Grommett was turned in to the animal shelter by a woman
whose son was going away to college and her apartment was too small to keep the
110-pound canine.
"Within a day he had made himself at home," Boyle said. The family decided not to change his name,
which came from the animated claymation
series "Wallace & Grommit." In the
program, Grommit is a vocal, intelligent dog that
reads the newspaper.
The Boyle's Grommett - they added a "t" -
is not quite so gifted as the animated version, but he
makes up for his lack of language skill with his friendly disposition. He will
sit on command, freely gives his paw and carries his food dish in his mouth
when he wants to eat. The family is so happy with their pet that they would
like to adopt another dog from the pound.
"We'd like to have a companion for Grommett,"
Boyle said.
Once Francis graduates from URI next May, he has plans to attend graduate
school to continue his theater studies and will leave Grommett
entirely in his father's care.
"He's the first dog that's ever really gotten to me," Boyle said. "He
really wormed his way into my heart."