The Houston International Airport was as crowded as ever with people rushing to catch their flights. And then, in the middle of the crowd, Shadow, an experienced German Shepherd K9 trained to detect hazards, started barking at a woman waiting in the long queue. She was 7 months pregnant and frightened by the dog’s reaction.
Officers asked her to step forward. They conducted a thorough search of her belongings, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Yet, Shadow wouldn’t stop sniffing her and barking at her.
The officers were confused and contemplated their next move. Should they let the woman go?
She was heavily pregnant and the entire situation made her upset and uncomfortable.
And then, just as they decided to let her go, Agent Grant remembered that Shadow was trained as medical alert service dog. Was there something wrong with this woman?
Just to be sure, he explained to her that he wanted to call the emergency services to check on her. Although she hesitated at first, the woman eventually agreed.
To everyone’s surprise, the medics discovered uterine rupture, which is a serious and rare childbirth complication where the muscle wall of the uterus tears.
The woman was quickly rushed to the nearby hospital where she gave birth prematurely.
Her baby was still tiny and placed in an incubator, but luckily, both he and his mother were fine.
That day, Shadow saved two lives. His strong senses allowed him to detect that something wasn’t right with that woman’s child.
Dogs have up to 300 million scent receptors and are able to detect chemicals or changes in body odor caused by diseases or other medical emergencies.
A few days after the incident, Shadow and Agent Grant paid the woman a visit at the hospital where she and the staff gave an appreciative “thank you” to Shadow in a brightly lit hospital ward.
