Michele Gilks and her
family are probably thankful that canines don’t adhere to an equivalent of the
phrase “let sleeping dogs lie.”
Michele was suffering
from then-undiagnosed sleep apnea when
she and her family adopted Bree, a 2-year-old Dachshund, in 2010. Soon after
welcoming Bree into their home, Michele and her husband would periodically wake
to find Bree licking Michele’s face and sticking her snout into Michele’s
mouth.
Although both Michele
and Bree experienced daytime drowsiness, the Gilks family attributed this sleep apnea symptom
to Bree’s bizarre nighttime behavior. A veterinarian assured the family that
Bree was otherwise in good health.
Bree’s antics peaked
one night in September 2011, when the dog began frantically digging next to an
unconscious Michele and standing on Michele’s chest. Michele finally awoke,
gasping for air, as her husband called for an ambulance.
Michele was placed on
oxygen and rushed to the emergency room due to high blood pressure and a rapid
heart rate. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with obstructive sleep
apnea, a potentially fatal condition in which an airway obstruction causes
a person to stop breathing repeatedly during sleep.
The Gilks family
believes Bree detected changes in Michele’s breathing, sensed when Michele’s
breathing stopped and attempted to wake Michele up, thus saving Michele’s life.
For her dedication to her human companion, Bree was recently named to Purina’s
Animal Hall of Fame in Canada.
Each year, the Purina
Animal Hall of Fame honors animals for acts of heroism or bravery that save
human lives. Since 1968, 155 animals—128 dogs, 26 cats and one horse—have been
inducted.
And since Michele began
sleep apnea treatment,
both she and Bree are reportedly sleeping peacefully.