Great Dane Saves Life of Jemez Resident

[MountainDon]

By T.J. Wilham
Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer
       Elwood Cardon was hanging upside down. He was pinned against the steering wheel of his SUV, which had plunged off a snow-covered mountain road. His spine was cracked, his limbs were freezing and there was no one in sight.
    The 82-year-old retired architect prayed to God to take his life.
    But Baby wouldn't let that happen.
    Cardon's 5-year-old Great Dane curled up next to him to keep him warm, licked him, snuggled with him and made several trips back and forth looking for help.
    After the sun set 10 hours later, Baby was able to get the attention of a nearby homeowner.
    The dog led the woman to Cardon, and hours later La Cueva Volunteer Fire Department was able to pull him from his crushed SUV.
    Six days later, Cardon was released from the hospital and allowed to return to his mountain home in Jemez Springs with a walker and neck brace.
    "It's amazing. I didn't think she could reason like that," Cardon said. "When she was a pup, she tore into everything. She was 'that damn dog.' Hell, now I would set a place for her at the table."
    Cardon was diagnosed five years ago with terminal colon cancer. He had been staying with his daughter the past few months in Albuquerque while he underwent several surgeries and physical therapy.
    Fed up with the treatment, on Dec. 4 Cardon decided it was time to go home to the house he built himself 14 years ago, and he told his family.
    "They tried to keep me from coming," he said. "But, I was bullheaded and stubborn. I wanted to come to the best place on Earth.
    "This is where I want to die."
    That night, he grabbed Baby, sneaked out of the house and put the dog in the front seat.
    But Cardon got disoriented on his way home and took a wrong turn off N.M. 4. He accidentally drove off the road a few miles later, sending his car downhill 20 feet. The SUV wedged between two trees.
    The collision broke the passenger-side window, caused the engine to shut off and the air bags to deploy.
    Cardon screamed and honked the horn as he rested upside down. He later used the air bags as blankets and shoved them into the cracks of the window.
    Michelle Taylor, EMS Captain for La Cueva Fire Department, said Cardon was on a remote road and would probably not have been found in time if Baby had not alerted the neighbor.
    "It was in an area that was not heavily traveled. There are only a couple residents in that area, and only one that lives there full time," Taylor said. "We would have eventually found him, but the dog certainly saved his life."
    Meanwhile, Cardon's family began to worry when they discovered that he had left his daughter's house without telling anyone.
    Family members called State Police, animal control, checked local emergency rooms and began searching the roads he would have traveled.
    "We were very, very worried," said Cardon's grandson-in-law, Eric Laskie. "We were confused. We didn't know where to start or what to do."
    All the while, Baby was working hard to get someone's attention.
    When the dog found the neighbor, Baby had to make several trips back and forth to convince the woman to follow her.
    When the woman saw the car, she ran back to her house to call 911. Firefighters were soon on the scene to pull Cardon from the wreckage.
    "I wanted God to take my life," he said. "But I guess he saw the bills I owe."

[peternap]

Boy.......That's a GREAT .....story

[MountainDon]

Yeah, I thought of Zeus when I saw the story.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Sounds like a really good dog.  We had a cow dog (red heeler) when I was a kid who pulled a man away from the door and held him until I could grab the gun and tell him to leave.  He'd started to open the door without knocking and Red lunged without so much as a growl or bark, took the offending hand and led him to the gate where he bared his teeth and growled low until the guy screamed for us to "call off the dog!" 

Just for fun, we went into a local Petsmart the other day, and there was a young couple with a pup in hand.  Cute little fuzzy, blue-eyed thing.  He was something like 3/4 wolf, 1/4 Husky.  They let DDs hold him, and he flopped over on his back and let them carry him like a baby.  He was smart and friendly, but I bet he'll grow up to be a pretty good dog if they train him well.