A dog who was rescued from an animal shelter has returned her owner's gesture by helping the man survive a heart attack, Fox 59 News Indianapolis reports.
John Green found the heroic dog -- which his family affectionately calls Queen Sheba -- last September at the Humane Society of Indianapolis. He decided to adopt her after discovering "she'd been passed over quite a few times." She quickly became part of the family.
Then, right before Christmas, Green started experiencing chest pains while his elderly father slept in the other room.
Sensing that her owner needed help, Sheba licked the father's hand until he woke up, allowing him to find his son and drive him to the hospital in the nick of time.
"I honestly think Sheba even knew something was happening and I think Sheba sensed that," John Aleshire of the Indianapolis Humane Society told Fox 59. "Quite frankly, I think that John is probably here because of Sheba."
Sheba isn't the only adopted pet that's helped save their owner.
In September, an 8-year-old American Eskimo dog helped save her owner's life by alerting family members that the woman had fallen unconscious during a pregnancy-related seizure, Local News 8 Indiana reported.
Then in November, a 3-and-a-half-year-old boxer named Duncan sacrificed his life to save his owner from a fire.
Hopefully the Humane Society will recognize the dogs' sacrifices by nominating them for their annual Dogs of Value award, which are given every year in March.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article indicated that the Humane Society of Indianapolis euthanizes 9,000 animals per year. That number applies to Indianapolis Animal Care and Control, the city shelter, and not to the Humane Society of Indianapolis.