GRAVETTE — A little dog, a family pet, is being called a "hero dog" for her role in rescuing an elderly woman. Baylor, a Corgi mix belonging to Vicky Barham of Gravette, is the pet who alerted her owner to the woman's predicament.
Barham said that last Tuesday afternoon she and Baylor had returned from their usual walk around the neighborhood. Baylor just kept going to the front door, scratching at the bottom of the door and whining.
"I knew she didn't need to go to the bathroom. We'd just come in from our walk and she'd just been out to relieve herself," Barham said. "But she continued to lie by the door and whine."
Finally, after about 45 minutes, Barham tired of the fuss and said, "Okay, you win. I'll take you out." She grabbed Baylor's leash, put it on and led her to the grassy area in front of their apartment.
From there Barham heard someone crying, "Help!" The cries were from the house across the street. She walked to the residence and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she walked around the house and found her neighbor, Lavern Glenn, had fallen near her back door.
Glenn, 92, had been blowing a whistle which Baylor could hear but Barham could not. She estimated she had been lying on the ground for about an hour and a half. Barham said she was already badly dehydrated.
Since Barham could not lift Glenn herself, she called 911. An emergency crew soon arrived and EMTs helped her up and gave her fluids. Barham stayed with her until her granddaughter arrived.
Emergency personnel tried to persuade Glenn to go to the hospital, but she refused transport. She was thankful for their help though, she said, and thankful for the small whistle she had been given at her former residence, an assisted living center in Bella Vista. They had given her the whistle "just in case," she explained, because she walked almost daily while there. She keeps it tied to her walker.
But, most of all, Glenn was thankful for having caring neighbors like Barham and thankful for Baylor with her keen hearing and her persistence.
Community on 09/14/2016