Loyal Dog Reportedly Prevents Owner's Suicide Attempt By Knocking Gun Away

A French woman's beloved dog reportedly saved her from committing suicide.

The Agence France-Presse reports that a 63-year-old woman from Sorgues walked into her backyard and fired multiple test shots from her .22 caliber rifle.

When she turned the gun on herself, however, her loyal German shepherd jumped up and prevented the suicide attempt.

"[The dog] probably sensed things and knocked into her to save her," a local police officer told AFP.

Another AFP report featured in France's Le Figaro notes that the "dog was apparently very affected" by his owner's actions.

The woman was later taken to the hospital for a non-life-threatening chest wound.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

This German shepherd is not the first to come to his owner's rescue.

In May, California resident Debbie Zeisler's rescue shepherd, "Bear," was honored after he saved her life when she had a seizure at her home, according to Los Angeles station KCBS.

Zeisler suffers from complex partial seizures and Bear went for help after his owner collapsed one day, KCBS reported.

“He circled the entire area that I live at. Looking for somebody,” she told the station. After finding an animal control officer, "he made a beeline for her truck, jumped in and was literally like jiggling his head, so she could see he had tags. And that’s when she saw that he was a seizure dog. That’s how they got me."

Just last week, a dog saved a 3-year-old girl who was out all night in freezing temperatures.

The young girl had wandered from her home in Poland, where temperatures dropped to 23 degrees Fahrenheit. The dog stayed by her side all night and, when rescuers were out searching the following morning, it alerted the group to their location by barking.