Last July, Gloria Benton's husband John was on his way to work when their pitbull Titan blocked the door. Benton was confused. He had just sent the dog upstairs to sit with his wife who was recovering from back surgery, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
"He was acting strange, and this dog is not aggressive at all," Benton told the news channel. "He was barking and growling and then ran down the steps and got between me and the door." Benton went back upstairs and discovered that Gloria suffered a brain aneurysm and fallen and fractured her skull. She told reporters, "I had a hole in my head and I told John 'I think I'd better go to the emergency room.'"
Gloria was immediately taken to the hospital where the doctors gave Benton some sobering news. "The doctors said that if it had not been for this dog, if he had let me leave that house she would have either bled to death or the aneurysm would have killed her," he told FOX 5.
Eight weeks ago, the pitbull saved Gloria again. Titan awoke Benton at 4:30 am after his wife had fallen in the bathroom and broken her hip and another bone, the Gwinnett Daily News reported.
The Humane Society of The United States sought to honor Titan for his acts of heroism on July 24. "I think he won because he saved her life," Humane Society state director Jessica DuBois told the Gwinnett Daily Post. "There is so much negative press about these dogs.. but overall, the breed is an amazing breed." Benton agreed. "It's not about the breed, it's how they are raised," he told FOX 5. Titan was the second runner up in the Humane Society's National Dogs of Valor Award.
He was also awarded 'Neighbor of the Year' by the Vintage Pointe Neighborhood Association last year.